Comparison of soybean variety mixtures vs. pure lines for agronomic value in Southern part of Romania

Victor Petcu¹, Cătălin Lazăr¹, Ancuţa Bărbieru¹, Corina Bubuianu², Angela Caşărică² 

¹NARDI Fundulea
²NCPRI Bucharest

Keywords: soybean, variety mixtures, pure lines, yield stability, genetic diversity, agronomic performance, sustainable agriculture.

 Abstract: Soybean is a crop with specific climatic and soil requirements, capable of adapting to various environmental conditions, yet achieving its best performance in temperate zones with adequate heat and moisture. Studies investigating the potential agronomic advantages of heterogeneous soybean material remain relatively limited. To address this gap, an experiment was conducted using different soybean varieties to evaluate their behavior when cultivated as pure lines or in mixtures.
The experimental site was located at the Center for Ecological Agriculture, INCDA Fundulea, on cambic chernozem soil. The experimental factors included soybean crops cultivated as mixtures of two, three, and four varieties, compared to monocultures of single varieties.
The results indicated that using a mixture of four soybean genotypes (Ovidiu, Triumf, Fabiana, and the F 13-908 line*) resulted in higher yield levels and improved quality compared to the average performance of the individual pure lines. These results confirm that genetic heterogeneity within soybean crops may provide greater adaptability to environmental variability and more stable production across years.The use of multi-varietal mixtures represents a promising agronomic strategy for sustainable soybean production, especially in organic or low-input systems.