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Development of the soybean plant begins at germination and ends when mature seeds are ready for harvest. All aspects of soybean development including length of vegetative growth, timing of flowering, and maturity date are greatly influence by photoperiod and temperature. Because soybean is highly sensitive to photoperiod soybean varieties are adapted to narrow bands of longitude or maturity classes.
There are thirteen recognized maturity classes for soybean varieties. Varieties adapted to southern latitudes will often grow taller and mature later than normal when planted in northern latitudes. Varieties adapted to northern latitudes will often be shorter and mature earlier than normal when planted in southern latitudes. |