Boron sources and rates on soybean seed physiological quality and root system volume

Abstract: Soybean has shown increasing performance in terms of yield in recent years. However, despite this growth, the lack of quality control and knowledge about the effects of the nutritional status of plants has compromised the germination and vigor of a significant proportion of seeds. The aim of this study was to evaluate the physiological performance of seeds and root growth of soybean cultivated with boron (B) sources with different solubilities incorporated into the soil. The experimental design was completely randomized in a 2×5 factorial arrangement, with two B sources (boric acid and ulexite) and five B rates (0, 2, 4, 8, and 16 mg.kg-1). 100-seed weight (100SW), germination, seedling shoot length (SSL), seedling root length (SRL), accelerated aging (AA), root protrusion (RP), lignin content in the seed coat (LCSC), and root volume (RV) were evaluated. The B sources and rates showed a significant interaction with increases in RV, RP, SSL, SRL, and 100SW, while the LCSC decreased with increasing rates with no interaction effect, indicating a reduction of seed quality with rates up to 8.0 mg.kg-1, regardless of the B source used.