Soybeans
When is peak water demand reached?
Peak water demand is reached during the soybean reproductive period (bloom period).
Once a good stand is established and until beginning bloom, soybeans can tolerate short periods of drought with little or no influence on yield. Plants need to achieve adequate height at beginning bloom to allow for better harvest efficiency. The best program to follow is to not let soybeans stress at any time, even though some research shows no yield advantage to irrigation before bloom. It is difficult to irrigate a lot of acres in as timely a fashion as may be accomplished in research plots. Given this fact, you can see why fields may need to be watered before bloom.
Adequate soil moisture must exist from beginning bloom until the beans are fully touching in the pods.
