There is only a small number of products that can be applied to soybeans at post-emergence to mitigate plant lodging and increase grain yield. In this way, the objective of this experiment was to mitigate lodging of soybean plants through the application of growth regulators, herbicides, and a biofertilizer, and to evaluate the effect of the herbicide lactofen on the growth of soybean plants. The experiment was carried out on the CAV-UDESC experimental farm, with soybean cultivar BS 2606, in two seasons (2020/21 and 2021/22). The experiment used a randomized block design (RBD), with five replications. The eight treatments consisted of growth regulators (prohexadione calcium, mepiquat chloride, and benzyladenine), herbicides (lactofen 1x and 2x and bentazon+imazamox), a biofertilizer (amino acids), and the control. The treatments were applied to soybean plants cv. BS 2606 is in the vegetative stage of eight nodes on the main stem of the plant (V8). Assessments of SPAD, NDVI, and plant height (7, 14, 21, 28 DAA) were more influenced by the seasons than by the products. Lactofen caused injury to the plants, but these injuries eased over the course of the assessments, and no negative difference was found in the yield components of the soybean plants. Lactofen 2x can be used as a growth regulator in soybeans to increase the number of lateral branches of plants. In both seasons, lodging was less than 8%, thus not affecting grain yield. The use of prohexadione on BS 2606 soybean resulted in grain yield gains ranging from 17 to 19%.
Fernandes et al. (Thu,) studied this question.