Abstract Soybean ( Glycine max (L.) Merril) yield in tropical high‐altitude regions is strongly influenced by soil physical and chemical attributes, particularly in highly weathered oxisols, where variability among suborders may affect crop performance. This study aimed to identify the physical and chemical soil factors associated with the productive performance of soybean cultivars grown in different Oxisol suborders in tropical high‐altitude environments. The study was conducted in Cabeceira Grande, Minas Gerais, Brazil, within the Cerrado biome. Three field experiments were carried out under a no‐tillage system during the 2019/2020 growing season, each established on a distinct soil class: Typic Hapludox, Xanthic Hapludox, and Rhodic Hapludox. Four soybean cultivars (Desafio, NS6906, NS7901, and RK6316) were evaluated using a randomized block design with four replications. Soil samples were collected at depths of 0–20, 20–40, and 40–60 cm and analyzed using exploratory statistics and principal component analysis in association with soybean morphophysiological traits and yield components. The physical and chemical characterization of oxisols allowed clear discrimination among soil suborders. The cultivar NS7901 showed higher grain yield across all Oxisol suborders. Additionally, Rhodic Hapludox showed higher grain yield than the other soil classes, irrespective of cultivar. Soil chemical attributes at the 20‐ to 40‐cm depth were strongly associated with specific soybean yield components. These results highlight the importance of subsurface soil chemical attributes in explaining soybean yield variability in tropical oxisols and provide valuable insights for soil‐specific management strategies to improve soybean productivity in high‐altitude tropical regions.
Evaristo et al. (Wed,) studied this question.