Source-sink Relationships of Soybean as Influencedby Drought Stress during the Pod and Seed-developing Stage

This study was conducted to investigate the influence of drought stress during the pod developing and seed filling stage on source-sink relationships of soybean (Glycine max). Drought treatments were imposed by withholding water at the full-pod stage, 19 days after flowering, and then limited watering was relieved at 15 days after the initiation of drought treatment. Soybean seed yield was reduced by 39% mainly due to decreased pod number under drought stress, but the 100-seed weight was relatively less reduced. In spite of the 15-day drought during the full-pod stage, soybean produced good seeds showing similar 100-seed weight, protein, starch and soluble sugar content to those from the well-watered. Although drought during the full-pod stage caused source limitations; i.e. accelerated leaf senescence and reduced leaf soluble sugars, it did not cause limitations of other source characteristics such as SGR and leaf starch level. This is because the reduction in size of sinks, such as pod and seed abortions compensated for source limitations, resulting in balanced source-sink as expressed by LAR and the ratio of leaf area to seed dry weight. Drought stress during the pod developing and seed filling stage did not disrupt the source-sink balance.