The Center for Tropical Agricultural Research (CIAT) will release two new varieties of soybeans, recommended for different areas of soy production in Santa Cruz.
After seven years of research, the Center for Tropical Agricultural Research (CIAT), the technical arm of the Government of Santa Cruz in Bolivia, will release a variety of glyphosate-resistant soybeans and another conventional bean suited for all areas.
Although these varieties have not yet been named, the site notiboliviarural.com reports those will be announced later this winter. They also indicated “the material to be released has a cycle of 115 days, with high plant growth, fairly good branching and yields.”In addition, they recommend it for two crop cycles a year. “It is a material that adapts very well to the North and East, where trial crops yielded 2.5 to 3.5 metric tons in the summer and 2 to 3 metric tons in the winter,” said Fernando Morales head of the Soy Project at CIAT.
Compared with conventional soybeans, the site reports one of the highlights of the two new materials is the strong resistance to disease.
The varieties will be available to farmers during the 2016 summer crop. It is worth noting that in its over 40 years, the CIAT has released 45 varieties of soybean. Among the latest are Sirari, Caoba and Asaí, used by farmers in Santa Cruz.