INFLUENCE OF VARIETY AND POTASSIUM ON THE GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY TRAITS OF SOYBEAN (Glycine max L.) IN THE DRY SAVANNA ECOLOGY OF NIGERIA

A field trial was conducted during the 2018 rainy season at Dawakin Kudu (DKD) and Bichi (BCH), both in Sudan savannah ecological zone of Nigeria, to study the influence of variety and potassium on the growth, yield, oil content, and antioxidant (tocopherol) content of soybeans. The treatments consisted of two (2) varieties of soybean (TGX 1448-2E and TGX 1835-10) and four (4) rates of potassium (0, 50, 100, and 150 kg ha-1). These were factorially combined to give eight (8) treatments combination and laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) replicated four times. Data were collected on the growth, yield, oil and tocopherol content of soybean and subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using Genstat 17th Edition, and significantly different treatment means were separated using Tukey HSD at 5% probability. Result of the study revealed that, although the K levels did not significantly (P > 0.05) alter the soybeans' growth or yield-related components at either location, there was a noticeable increase in the aforementioned characters at DWK compared to BCH. Similarly, the oil content (6.6-8.3%) and antioxidants (7.83-10.6 mg/l) in DWK outweigh those of BCH (2.4-3.0% and 4.31-5.10 mg/l). Variety on the other hand, TGX 1448-2E produces higher oil and antioxidant content at both DKD and BCH than TGX 1835-10. It can be concluded and recommended that farmers in this study area adopt the TGX1448-2E variety of soybeans as their planting material with the application of 50 kg ha-1 of K on their farm land.