EFFECTS OF NUTRIENT FOLIAR SPRAY ON SOYBEAN GROWTH AND YIELD (GLYCINE MAX (L.) MERRILL) IN SOUTH WEST NIGERIA

Pot and field trials were carried out on the roof top garden of the Department of Crop Protection and Environmental Biology, University of Ibadan, respectively the University Teaching and Research Farm, in order to study the effects of nutrient foliar spray on soybean growth and yield. TGX 1740-2F soybean variety was used in the experiment; nutrients were foliarly applied as exclusively N, NPK and NPKMg at the early flowering and early pod-filling growth stages. Plants were sprayed at the rate of 100 mg/L of water corresponding to each nutrient, while unsprayed plants served as control. The experimental design was a split plot with four replications. Results from the experiments showed that nutrient foliar spray, either singly or in combination, significantly (P= 0.05) enhanced the growth and yield of the TGX 1740-2F soybean variety, at the two growth stages. However, spraying nutrients during an early pod filling stage was significantly (P= 0.05) better than spraying at the early flowering growth stage. The highest yield of soybean was obtained by spraying NPK and NPKMg, but the optimum yield of soybean was obtained by spraying NPK at the pod filling stage of growth.