Seeding rate is an important management practice for soybean production.Chinese and U.S.soybean growers use different seeding rates,and breeders in the two countries have developed cultivars adapted to respective plant densities.The objective of this study was to compare the effect of plant density on cultivars recently released in different breeding programs,using four cultivars developed in Liaoning,China and four in Ohio,USA.We used 3 plant density treatments(7.5,15.0,22.5 x 104 plants/hm2) and assessed yield and agronomic traits from 2004 to 2006 in Liaoning.There was no significant effect of plant density on yield for either group of the cultivars.The average yield of Ohio cultivars was higher than that of Liaoning cultivars,and there was no significant interaction between plant density and cultivar for all the assessed traits.The plant height of Liaoning cultivars was significantly higher than that of Ohio cultivars,and there was a significant effect of plant density on plant height.The average branch number of Ohio cultivars was larger than that of Liaoning cultivars;higher plant density reduced the branch number per plant greatly.Plant density had a signifi-cant effect on the node number and internode length,Liaoning cultivars generally had longer internode length.Plant density had a significant effect on seed yield:stem ratio,as the plant density increased the seed yield:stem ratio decreased for both groups of cultivars.However,100-seed weight was not affected by plant density.
