Effects of sowing time and plant population on the productive potential and agronomic characters in soy

Soy is one of the main cultivated species in the world with great economic expression and high impact on Brazilian agribusiness. The productive potential is expressed due to the genetic constitution of the cultivar and the environment in which it is exposed. The market demands for bean production require the ideal handling of the culture in order to optimize the yield potential of the plant. In this context, the handling of the culture is essential to achieve success when cultivating soy. Plant population influences the agronomic characters and consequently in the grain yield. Thus, this factor needs particular studies for each cultivar. The objective in this study was evaluating the influence of the plant population on the productive potential and agronomic characters in soy, in Uberlandia, Minas Gerais. The experiment was performed in Capim Branco Farm, which belongs to the Federal University of Uberlandia. The study was composed by 15 treatments in a 3x5 factorial scheme, constituted by three cultivars (UFUS 7415, UFUS 7401 and UFUS 6901) and five plant populations (200, 240, 280, 320 and 360 thousand plants ha(-1)). It was adopted the experimental outlining of randomized complete blocks, with five repetitions. The evaluated characters were: number of days to flowering and maturity (NDF and NDM), plant height at flowering and maturity (APF and APM), number of nodes at flowering and maturity (NNF and NNM), insertion height for the first pod (APV), total number of pods (NVT), thousand grain weight (P1000G) and productivity (PROD). It was noted that plant population didn't interfere in the soy cycle, number of nodes and thousand grain weight. The cultivars UFUS 6901, UFUS 7415 and UFUS 7401 presented better yields in populations of 240, 280 and 320 thousand plants ha(-1) respectively.