A new, high-yielding soybean called Ozark was released from the University of Arkansas division of agriculture for the 2004 growing season.
“Ozark is an early maturity group V with good disease resistance,” says Pengyin Chen, soybean breeder for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.
Chen says Ozark scored a higher average yield — 61.9 bu./acre — than any other public or commercial variety in the 2003 Arkansas Soybean Performance Test for early maturity group V soybeans. The trials were conducted in irrigated and non-irrigated test plots in six locations around Arkansas. Ozark's best yields were in irrigated plots and Keiser (71.2 bu./acre) and Stuttgart (70.8 bu./acre) were the top varieties.
Ozark also came in second — averaging 56.1 bu./acre — in Mississippi performance trials conducted at eight locations. The highest yielding variety in the Mississippi test was an experimental Arkansas variety that hasn't been released yet.