Effects of warming and drought on growth and development of soybean in Hailun region

Abstract As a result of global warming, drought, flooding, change in the rainfall pattern, etc. occur frequently. All these natural disasters could cause serious damage to the food security. Soybean is one of the most important oil crops in China. In recent years, the changing climate has brought many uncertain risks to the growth and production of soybean. In this study, based on the local meteorological, soil, and soybean growth-related experimental data, the effects of high temperature and drought stress on soybean were tested. The test parameters were leaf area index (LAI) and dry matter weight, while the analytical tool used was World Food Studies Model crop model. The research was carried out in Hailun City, Heilongjiang Province, China. The results showed that warming stress shortened the growth period of soybean and reduced the LAI and dry matter accumulation. On the other hand, drought stress also showed a significant impact on the growth period as well as reduced LAI and dry matter accumulation. Comparing the whole growth as well as the flowering-stage to seed-filling-stage treatments of soybean, the results were found very similar. It indicated that the soybean growth from flowering to seed-filling stage was strongly affected by the external environmental factors. The high temperature and drought disasters in the fruiting stages would have a greater impact on the growth and production of soybean crop.