Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station
SHELBY SOYBEAN A. H. Probst
Mimeo AY-6f December, 1958
Shelby is a new soybean variety which yields about 10% higher than Lincoln in its area of best adaptation in central Indiana. It is very similar to Lincoln in maturity and most other growth characteristics.
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT. Shelby is pure line selection L9-5139 from the backcross of Lincoln x (Lincoln x Richland) • The Lincoln x Richland cross was made by M. G. Weiss in 1941 at the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station. The backcross was made in 1942 in the greenhouse by L. F. Williams of the U. S. Regional Soybean Laboratory, Urbana, Illinois. Early generation selection and testing were done by L. F. Williams. Shelby was developed cooperatively by the Midwestern Agricultural Experiment Stations of the North Central Region and the U. S. Regional Soybean Laboratory.
DESCRIPTION. Shelby has medium-sized yellow seeds with a black hilum (seed scar). The pods are medium to large in size, mainly two-and three-seeded, brown in color, and are borne primarily on the central stem. The plants are medium to tall in height, usually fairly erect in growth habit, with purple flowers and brown pubescence. The plants are very similar to Lincoln in height maturity, and growth habit but have purple flowers whereas Lincoln has white flowers. Shelby and Clark are selections from the same backcross and have similar seed and plant characteristics, but Clark is six days later in maturity and is higher in yield in its area of adaptation.
PERFORMANCE. This new variety has been grown in comparison with Lincoln and Clark in 24 tests at five locations in central and southern Indiana, in the period 1952 to 1958 (see table 1, section A). Shelby has also been grown in comparison with Lincoln and four early maturing varieties in northern and central Indiana, in the period 1954 to 1958 (see table 1, section B).
ADAPTATION. Shelby is best suited as a full-season variety, south of a line drawn across Indiana through Remington, Logansport and Bluffton and north of a line drawn through Bedford and Brownstown. It is also well suited as an early maturing variety, or for delayed planting, in southern Indiana south of the above area.
Shelby*s importance as a variety is to replace Lincoln which it has outyielded by about 10$. Shelby has little or no yield advantage over the earlier maturing varieties, Lindarin and Harosoy, in the upper portion of its area of adaptation. It should prove useful as a companion variety to the earlier maturing varieties and to the later maturing Clark to help spread the combining season where large acreages are grown on a single farm and also to help reduce production hazards due to weather extremes in the growing season.
DISEASES. Like Lincoln, Shelby is resistant to frogeye leaf spot. It is similar to Lincoln in reaction to most other diseases except that it is somewhat more susceptible to stem canker than Lincoln.
Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station, Lafayette, Indiana in cooperation with Crops Research Division, Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland
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