Jt. Walker et al., EFFECTS OF INTERMITTENT ACIDIC IRRIGATIONS ON SOYBEAN YIELDS AND FROGEYE LEAFSPOT, Environmental and experimental botany, 34(3), 1994, pp. 311-318
Acidic irrigations, adjusted to pH 2, were slightly injurious to leave
s of Glycine max (L.) Merr., yet concentrations of most chemical eleme
nts in leaf tissue, seed yield, seed size (100 seed weight), and plant
weight of two southern cultivars ('Hampton-266A' and 'Kirby') were un
affected by six or seven irrigations in the Georgia piedmont. Sulfur l
evels in leaf tissue receiving acidic irrigations increased above thos
e levels in plants receiving only ambient rain, but not above those ir
rigated with well-water containing 10 ppm sulfate at pH 6.8-6.9. There
was a suppression of lesions induced by Cercospora sojina K. Hara in
acid-irrigated 'Kirby' soybean, but development of powdery mildew on '
Hampton-266A' soybean was not affected. Hydrogen ion concentrations of
current ambient rains in the region probably have little effect on yi
elds. If intermittent ambient precipitation with dramatically lower pH
should occur, then frogeye leaf spot on soybean could be less severe.