Water Sensitive Periods during the Reproductive Growth Phase of Glycine max L. II Establishing Water Stress Sensitivity

The water sensitivity of soybeans was determined on a day-to-day basis from the onset of flowering to physiological maturity by correlating daily leaf water potential values of 50 different soil water regimes with corresponding grain, vegetative and biomass yields. Days, and consecutive days forming periods, during which significant negative correlations were obtained were regarded as water sensitive periods during the reproductive growth phase of the soybean crop.
Water deficits during flowering significantly inhibited vegetative and biomass production but inhibited grain yields only when occurring during early flowering. During pod elongation and seed development the sensitivity of the soybean plant to water stress was present but diminished in time with regard to vegetative and biomass yields. The effect on grain yields was restricted to pod elongation and to later seed development stages. Water stress affected grain yields to a far greater extent than vegetative growth during seed filling and physiological maturity.