Interference of Raphanus sativus in Soybean Cultivars' Yield

The strong dependence on herbicides for weed control in soybean has led to the selection of tolerant and/or resistant weed plants. Besides the use of herbicides, integrated management includes techniques such as cultivar competitive ability to control weed plants. This work aimed to evaluate cultivar response to competition with forage turnip (Raphanus sativus) and to identify carriers of superior competitive ability. The experiment was carried out under field conditions in Cruz Alta-RS, during the 2000/01 season. Two competition conditions (absence and presence of forage turnip during the soybean vegetative growth stage) were tested in combination with 11 soybean cultivars. The effect of forage turnip competition varies among cultivars, characterizing genetic variability, which permits the selection of genotypes with higher competitive ability. Forage turnip competition reduces plant height, twig average length and soybean grain yield. Among the soybean genotypes used, the cultivar M Soy 6101 shows outstanding competitive ability due to its higher grain yield potential, both with and without forage turnip competition.