Response of Five Soybean Varieties under Saturated Soil Culture and Temporary Flooding on Tidal Swamp

Saturated soil culture (SSC) is a cultivation technology that gives continuous irrigation and maintains water depth constantly and makes soil layer in saturated condition. This technology is appropriate to prevent pyrite oxidation on tidal swamp and has been proved to increase the soybean productivity on tidal swamp. The objective of the research was to study the effect of temporary flooding under saturated soil culture on the growth and productivity of soybean. The experiment was conducted at Mulyasari Village, Tanjung Lago Sub District, Banyuasin District, South Sumatra Province (11 feet above sea level, 2°38’42.35 “South Latitude, and 104°45’5.92” East Longitude), from May to September. The experiment used a split plot design with three replications. The main plot is flooding condition, consisted of: 1) saturated soil condition continuously, from planting until harvesting time (as control), and 2) saturated soil condition from 0-10 DAP (Days after Planting) + flooding from 11-13 DAP + saturated soil condition from 14-28 DAP + flooding from 29-31 DAP + saturated soil condition from 32 DAP until harvesting time. The sub plot is variety, consisted of: Tanggamus, Anjasmoro, Wilis, Detam-2, and Malika. Irrigation on saturated soil culture was made with water depth 20 cm under soil surface, and temporary flooding was made with 5 cm upper soil surface. The result showed that Tanggamus, Anjasmoro, and Detam-2 were grouped as sensitive variety, while Wilis, and Malika were grouped as moderate-tolerant variety.