Arkansas producers looking for an early-maturing soybean with high yield potential can find it in a new variety just released from the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.

The new soybean, called UA 4805, is a Group IV conventional variety that averaged more than 55 bushels per acre over two years in the Arkansas Soybean Performance Test.

“The yield potential for UA 4805 is close to that of Ozark, which is a Group V conventional cultivar,” said Dr. Pengyin Chen, soybean breeder for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.

Ozark, released by the Division of Agriculture in 2003, was very popular in Arkansas in 2004, Chen said. Its main draw was high yields. Dr. Dwayne Beatty, coordinator of the UA Crop Verification Program, said Ozark ranks at the top of all irrigated varieties in the verification program.

It averaged 62 bushels per acre in the Arkansas Soybean Performance Tests in 2003 and 64 bushels per acre in the Arkansas Soybean Research Verification Program trials in 2004.

“In addition to high yields, it’s a good, clean bean,” Beatty said. “In our test plots last year, we saw no signs of foliar diseases and stem canker was low.”

“We’re proud to have a good variety out there for producers to use and now we’ll have another for those who want an earlier maturity soybean,” Chen said. “Many growers are switching to Group IV soybean varieties to take advantage of the earlier maturity.”

The new soybean also has resistance to several major diseases common in Arkansas and neighboring states.
“UA 4805 is particularly resistant to frogeye leaf spot, sudden death syndrome and stem canker.” Chen said. “It is moderately resistant to root knot nematode and phomopsis seed decay.”

Don Dombek, director of the Arkansas Crop Improvement Program, said UA 4805 foundation seed will be available to seed growers in 2005. Certified “blue tag” seed will be available to producers in 2006.

Dombek said UA 4805 marks a change in the naming practice for U of A soybean varieties.

“The change was requested by the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board,” he said. “They wanted a designation that identified the seed as having been released by the University of Arkansas.”

“UA 4805” indicates the variety comes from the U of A Division of Agriculture, has a Maturity Group rating of 4.8 and was released in 2005.