Wednesday, November 28, 2001

Perspectives -- Helping soybean growers make better variety decisions--VIPS


For a soybean grower, one of the major decisions this time of year is choosing the right varieties to plant next spring.

Often the determining factor is high yield potential. Increasingly, however, farmers are expressing an interest in knowing the level of resistance to diseases such as sudden death syndrome (SDS) or soybean cyst nematode (SCN) when making that choice.

As we look to the future, factors relating to the composition characteristics of the soybean, such as protein and oil content, also are likely to become increasingly important in variety selection.

During the past three years, scientists at the University of Illinois (U of I) have taken the lead in developing the Varietal Information Program for Soybeans (VIPS) as a tool to help growers simplify the process of obtaining information needed to make informed planting decisions. This one-stop source for variety-related information will save Illinois producers valuable time spent searching for the needed data on the Internet and elsewhere.

Throughout this effort, the scientists have worked closely with Illinois growers to ensure that VIPS provides the type of information that will be most useful in making variety selections now and far into the future. Initial funding for the VIPS program came from the Soybean Research and Development Council. The Illinois Soybean Checkoff Board is providing continuing support.

This powerful new tool can found on the Internet at {http://web.aces.uiuc.edu/VIPS}. The database consists of two major components -ñ VIPS-production and VIPS-composition.

The production component includes a wide range of data compiled from the latest variety trials conducted by the U of I at 12 locations throughout the state. The results provide information on yield, percentage of oil content, percentage of protein content, and resistance to key diseases at each of the locations.

Ratings for disease resistance and susceptibility are provided by plant pathologists from the U of I. Information is included for many major diseases, including SDS, SCN, green stem, white mold, and rhizoctonia root rot.

A new query structure in VIPS-production makes it especially easy for producers to extract the information. They can search and rank data in several ways to best meet their own individual needs.

Information can be obtained by location, company, maturity group, and type of soybeans, including both conventional and Roundup Ready varieties. Users can even pinpoint information on a company's participation in all VIPS trials, as well as display and compare a company's results in each trial.

The system also allows them to select individual varieties, and view all results for the selected variety at once. They can obtain specific information regarding the environmental and agronomic factors for each trial location. Users can even download results of their queries in a spreadsheet format for further analysis.  No username or password is required to use VIPS-production.

An additional component, known as VIPS-composition, provides users with an in-depth analysis of soybean composition. This database provides information on 31 attributes of soybean composition for many of the varieties included in the U of Iís 2001 variety trials. 

The database includes values for such end-use attributes as fatty acids, amino acids, and isoflavones. Similar information is also available from the 1998-2000 soybean trials conducted by the U of I, Iowa State University, Soy Capital Bank, and Mycogen (now a part of Dow Agrosciences).

Several enhancements and modifications over the past three years have further transformed VIPS into a powerful information tool for assisting producers in all aspects of soybean production.

The database now includes links to information on control of weeds, insects, and diseases from major universities in Illinois and several surrounding states. Users will find a direct link to the on-line version of the Illinois Pest Management Handbook, which provides an index to soybean-related topics.

The producer-friendly user interface makes VIPS especially valuable for those who are not Internet savvy. A new ìExpert-on-Callî section recently was added.

This feature allows users to link to the ìFrequently Asked Questionsî areas of StratSoy, where experts on management of field crop diseases, weeds, insects, and production are available to answer questions. StratSoy also can be directly accessed on the Internet at  {http://stratsoy.ag.uiuc.edu}.

This program will continue to help producers make the transition to soybean marketing based on seed-quality attributes, as well as serving as the primary source of reliable, unbiased, and accessible information on seed yield, oil content, protein content, and disease information for soybean varieties tested in the U of Iís Soybean Variety Testing Program.

Growers throughout Illinois are encouraged to log on to VIPS and use this important new tool to make informed variety decisions.

-----
Steve Sonka is the director of the National Soybean Research Laboratory and holds the Soybean Industry Chair in Agricultural Strategy at the U of I, Urbana-Champaign.