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Soybean seed quality concerns in 2025

A soybean researcher at Ohio State University says farmers should be aware of potential seed quality issues this spring.

Dr. Alex Lindsey, associate professor of crop ecophysiology, says areas that saw prolonged drought followed by heavy fall rains are most at risk.

“We may be looking at worse issues associated with germination and vigor of our seed lots as a result of some of these regionally specific extreme weather events that we experienced,” he says.

During a recent webinar hosted by Science for Success, he told growers it’ll be important to perform seed germination tests.

“Maybe we’re traditionally seeing 90 to 95% on our seed tags, but that could be down closer to 85 or 80% depending on seed availability.”  He says, “Just be vigilant with checking that this year.”

Lindsey says a seed vigor test is also recommended, especially when planting soybeans early.

“A seed vigor test will artificially stress the seed lot before doing a germination test and can help correlate with better performance under more stressful field conditions,” he says.

He says a fungicide seed treatment can also help protect soybeans through the vulnerable germination and emergence phase.