Do Roundup Ready Varieties Have the Genetic Ability to Yield as Well as the Top Non-transformed Varieties?
This year there was a statistically significant difference in soybean seed yield between the transformed and non-transformed variety in the test. Untreated Pioneer 9362 yielded 52.8 bushels/acre. Untreated Pioneer 9363RR yielded 46.6 bushels/acre. Since the LSD was 4.6 bushels/acre, the data indicates a statistically higher yield for the non-transformed soybean variety. In summary, the data generated by this study raise the question of whether there is a “yield drag” with Roundup Ready soybeans. In this work, there was some indication that this was the case, but one year’s data should not be used to make long term decisions. It does raise a flag that warrants further work in the selection of transformed verses non-transformed crop varieties. It should also provide producers a reason to be cautious about large scale adoption of this weed control system without some personal experience with it in their own operation.
