Division soybean breeder Pengyin Chen said the non-GMO soybean’s high protein content offers improved feed efficiency for poultry, beef and aquaculture producers.

He added that the high yields and relatively low cost of a public variety will make the seed attractive to growers.

The new variety, called UA 5814HP, is a maturity group V soybean that averaged 58.8 bushels per acre over four years of testing in 12 locations around Arkansas, Dr Chen said. It was also evaluated in seven southern region locations outside Arkansas where it averaged 64.8 bushels per acre.

In both tests, Dr Chen said, UA 5814HP yielded at or near the top against popular varieties that were used for comparison.

Dr Chen said the variety’s relative maturity is 5.8, making it a late maturity group V soybean. In tests, it averaged 41 days to maturity, putting it about three days later than the Division of Agriculture’s Osage soybean.

UA 5814HP’s protein level at maturity is about 45.5 per cent of dry weight, Dr Chen said. It produces a feed meal with about 52.6 per cent protein. He said some poultry companies have expressed interest in it because of the soybean’s potential offer of higher nutrition value per pound in animal feed.

Dr Chen said UA 5814HP will be released to private companies through license agreements with the Division of Agriculture. He said about 600 bags are available now through the Foundation Seed Program.