(Corn & Soybean Digest) – With the warmer conditions and warming soil temperatures planters started rolling across Nebraska. By mid-week, however, field work stopped due to rain, snow and a return to colder temperatures. Now growers are wondering how this cold stress and the potential for inbibitional chilling may affect soybean seeds that have been planted.
Soybean Germination Process
The germination stage of soybean consists first of a very fast uptake of water (imbibitional phase) followed by a much slower uptake of water (osmotic phase). Chilling during the first phase can cause severe problems because the imbibed water is needed to rehydrate the cotyledons and embryo to the point that cell membranes become functional. Cold temperatures interfere with proper hydration of those membranes. The imbibitional phase is typically not very long (less than 24 hours) and can occur with relatively little soil moisture since the seed is dry. Thus, getting a cold rain 0-24 hours after you plant can lead to chilling injury in soybean and lower stands. A study by UNL researcher W.J. Bramlage et al. showed that when the soybean seed coat was removed, imbibition injury occurred within 30 minutes. With a seed coat, imbibition is slower and a longer exposure would be needed before chilling injury occurs.
A key point to consider is that chilling injury is likely to be greater if soil temperatures were cold (less than 40° F) at planting rather than becoming cold 24 or more hours after sowing. The longer the seed is in the ground at warm soil temperatures before cold temperatures occur, the less likelihood there is of chilling injury. The bottom line is: Plant your soybeans if you think the soil temperatures won’t get cold (less than 40°F) for at least 24 hours. If you planted two or more days before the cold rain, there should be no imbibitional injury due to cold temperature.
