Climate-Smart Evaluation of Soybean Genotypes: Earliness, Seed Quality, and Environmental Adaptation

Egypt’s agriculture must adopt Climate-Smart approaches to tackle food insecurity and climate impacts, especially the vegetable oil production shortage. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of sowing date and genotype selection on the yield and quality of soybean under Egypt’s climatic conditions. Field trials were conducted during the 2023 and 2024 summer seasons at Mallawi and Etai-ElBaroud Agricultural Research Stations, using seven soybean genotypes (H6L198 (Misr 6),H10 L288 (Misr 10),H1 L3,H4 L4,H18 L54,Giza-111,and Crawford) including two standard cultivars across three sowing dates (May 15, May 30, and June 15). Results demonstrated that early sowing on May 15 generally delayed flowering and maturity but led to the highest seed, oil and protein yields. At Mallawi, the Misr 6 genotype recorded the highest oil (0.42 t/fed) and protein yields (0.96 t/fed). At Etai, the Crawford cultivar and H18 L1, when sown on May 15, achieved the highest oil (0.38 t/fed) and protein yields (0.86–0.93 t/fed). In contrast, late sowing on June 15 significantly reduced both seed, oil and protein yields, with H1 L3 and H18 L1 performing the worst. Strong positive correlations were observed between seed yield and both oil (r = 0.922, p < 0.01) and protein yields (r = 0.923, p < 0.01), as well as with flowering and maturity timing. The findings underscore the importance of matching genotype selection and sowing time to specific environments. Early sowing of high-performing genotypes such as Misr 6 and Crawford is recommended to maximize soybean productivity and quality under Egyptian conditions