What Does Manganese Do For Soybeans

We target a soil test level of 20 to 40 ppm on a midwest labs 6 inch soil test as a minimum level where manganese should be.

What does manganese do for soybeans. Manganese is immobile in the plant. Though manganese deficiency has been reported in glyphosate resistant soybeans in areas of the eastern corn belt minnesota research has not shown a benefit to soil or foliar applied manganese on soybean. Research in minnesota has shown that soybeans do not respond to the application of other nutrients in a fertilizer program. Manganese will not redistribute itself to new growth.

Since increasing the available manganese levels in the soil is difficult deficiency symptoms will reoccur in the same areas each year that soybeans are grown. Foliar application of one pound of actual manganese mn applied in 30 gallons of water per acre will alleviate deficiency symptoms. Prior research done at purdue shows that soybean fields with too little available manganese can result in a yield loss up to 12 bushels an acre. It was his silver bullet this year.

In fact research conducted by the ohio state university in 2008 and 2009 found that foliar applications of manganese fertilizer in the absence of foliar deficiency symptoms actually reduced soybean yields. Manganese is part of the structure of an important antioxidant superoxide dismutase that protects plant cells by deactivating free radicals which can destroy plant tissue. A foliar application supplies the important micronutrient to the part of the plant that is sprayed. So for 2015 s corn crop he applied only manganese and left two check strips.

Most of the manganese used by plants. He saw yield gains of 31 bushels per acre and 38 bushels per acre where he applied the manganese. Drinking water also contains small amounts of manganese at concentrations of 1 to 100 mcg l. Manganese is present in a wide variety of foods including whole grains clams oysters mussels nuts soybeans and other legumes rice leafy vegetables coffee tea and many spices such as black pepper 1 2 5 10 11.

When soybeans are deficient in manganese brown spots appear between the leaf veins. Eventually the leaves fall off. Shortly after the introduction of roundup ready rr soybean questions arose whether these varieties and or glyphosate applications to them alter manganese mn relations compared to conventional soybean varieties. When roots take up soil applied manganese ddp however the micronutrient is distributed throughout the whole plant.

The leaves also crinkle and cup downward. The results confirmed that manganese foliar fertilizer application in the absence of visible deficiency symptoms will not increase soybean yields.