Methods for evaluation of soybean chilling tolerance at the reproductive stage under artificial climatic conditions

Several evaluation methods for soybean chilling tolerance at the reproductive stage were examined under artificial climatic conditions. Comparisons were made on plants in control and treated plots using three cultivars differing in the level of chilling tolerance. In all methods, plants were grown at 22/17degreesC (day/night) until first flowering, and then transferred to growth chambers at 24/17degreesC for control and 15/15degreesC for chilling treatment, respectively. A method, in which plants were grown at 20/16degreesC after 4 weeks of the different temperature treatments, proved comparable to the conventional one, in which chilling tolerance at the flowering stage is evaluated using natural and artificial conditions. Another method, in which the plants in chilling treatment plots were grown at 15degreesC until maturity, also proved usable to evaluate genotypic differences in chilling tolerance independently of maturity time.