113 
 

 American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology,  and Sciences  (ASRJETS) 

ISSN (Print) 2313-4410, ISSN (Online) 2313-4402 

© Global Society of Scientific Research and Researchers  

http://asrjetsjournal.org/  
 

Kinetin and Nitrogen in Agronomic Characteristics of 

Soybean  

Rodrigo Ribeiro Fidelis
a*

, Natan Angelo Seraglio
b
, Wagner Augusto Rauber

c
, 

Kleycianne Ribeiro Marques
d
, Leandro Bortolon

e
, Elisandra Solange Oliveira 

Bortolon
f
, Aline Torquato Tavares

g
, Eliane Aparecida Rotili

h
, Gilson Araújo de 

Freitas
i
, Wanessa Rocha de Souza

j
, Hélio Bandeira Barros

k
, Tiago Henrick 

Viana Leal
l
, Pedro Lucca Reis Sousa

m
, Lucas Xaubet Burin

n
 

a
Doctor in Plant Breeding - Rice and Soybean Culture, Federal University of Tocantins - UFT, Farm. 69-72, 

Street Badejos Lot 7 s / n - Garden. Seville, Gurupi, Tocantins, Brazil 

b,c,d,g,h,I,j,k,l,m,n
Federal University of Tocantins - UFT, Farm. 69-72, Street Badejos Lot 7 s / n - Garden. Seville, 

Gurupi, Tocantins, Brazil 

e
Fishing, - EMBRAPA, Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil 

a
Email: fidelisrr@uft.edu.br*; 

b
Email: natan.seraglio@gmail.com; 

c
Email: wrauber@hotmail.com 

 

d
Email:  kleycianne@uft.edu.br; 

e
Email: leandro.bortolon@embrapa.br 

 

f
Email: elisandra.bortolon@embrapa.br; 

g
Email: alinet4t@hotmail.com; 

h
Email: elianerotili@yahoo.com.br 

i
Email: freitas@uft.edu.br  

j
Email : wanessarocha.engbio@hotmail.com; 

k
Email :barroshb@uft.edu.br 

 

l
Email: thvleal@gmail.com; 

m
Email:  pedrolucca147@gmail.com ; 

n
Email:  lxaubetburin@gmail.com  

 

Abstract 

The objective of this work was to evaluate the application of kinetin associated with nitrogen in coverage on the 

agronomic characteristics and soybean yield. In the 2016/2017 harvest, a 6x2 factorial scheme was used, six 

doses of kinetin (0; 0.30; 0.60; 0.90; 1.20; 1.50 g ha
−1

) and two doses of N (20 and 40 kg ha
−1

) and in the 

2017/2018 harvest, factorial scheme 5x2 was used, five doses of kinetin   (0; 0.25; 0.75; 1.00; 1.25 g ha
−1

) and 

two doses of N (20 and 40 kg ha
−1

). Agronomic plant height characteristics, first pod insertion height, number of 

grains per plant, number of pods per plant, number of grains per pod, number of grains per pod, hundred-grain 

mass and grain yield were evaluated. The use of N alone and associated with kinetin increased the number of 

pods and grains in the 2016/2017 harvest. In the 2017/2018 crop, kinetin caused a reduction of 8.9% at plant 

height and N caused an increase in plant height and first pod insertion and reduced the number of pods and 

grains per plant, grains per pods and productivity. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

* Corresponding author.  

mailto:elianerotili@yahoo.com.br
mailto:wanessarocha.engbio@hotmail.com


American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2020) Volume 69, No  1, pp 113-120 

114 
 

Keywords: cytokine; phytoregulator; mineral nutrition. 

1. Introduction 

In soybean culture, abortion between 27% and 84% of reproductive structures is normal, reducing the 

productive potential of the crop [1, 2]. The fixation of vegetables is dependent on the availability of 

photoassimilates and nutrients available to vegetables [3] and the availability of some hormones present in seeds 

[4, 5]. 

According to [6], cytokinin and abscisic acid are considered the most decisive plant regulators for reproductive 

development. There are reports that endogenous cytokinin deficiency in the upper third in soybean plants results 

in a higher occurrence of abortion of plant reproductive structures [4, 7]. Studies with soybeans found that 

exogenous applications of synthetic cytokinin in racemes increased the number of vegetables produced by the 

plant [7, 8]. 

Plants under stressful conditions, such as nutrient deficiency, the level of endogenous cytokinin decreases in 

response to this condition and the exogenous application of cytokinin can relieve symptoms of nutritional 

deficiency [9, 10]. In Brazil, the current recommendation for soybean cultivation is the use of inoculant without 

supplementation with nitrogen fertilizers. However, nitrogen biological fixation rates (BNF) begin to fall rapidly 

after reproductive stage R5, a stage that requires a higher demand for protein synthesis [11]. 

Modern soybean cultivars may have, in certain situations, negative N balance, due to the low efficiency of 

biological fixation [12]. Thus, doubts have arisen about the need to use N fertilizers to ensure higher 

productivity [13]. But according to [14], the late application of nitrogen does not generate profit for producers 

due to the increase in cost with the input being higher than the increase in production. 

The objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of the application of kinetin associated with nitrogen on 

the agronomic characteristics and soybean yield. 

2. Material and methods 

The work consisted of two experiments carried out on the same area in the experimental station of the Federal 

University of Tocantins Foundation - Gurupi Campus, in the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 harvest, characterized 

by geographical coordinates 11
◦
 44’ 48” of south latitude and 49

◦
 03’ 12” west longitude, at an altitude of 285 m, 

in soil of the type dystrophic yellow Latosol of medium texture. 

In the 2016/2017 harvest, the experimental design of randomized blocks with four replicates in factorial scheme 

6x2 was used, six concentrations of the kinetin plant regulator (0; 0.30; 0.60; 0.90; 1.20; 1.50 g ha
−1

) and two 

doses of N (20 and 40 kg ha
−1

). In the 2017/2018 harvest, the experimental design of randomized blocks with 

three replicates in factorial scheme 5x2 was used, five concentrations of the kinetin plant regulator (0; 0.25; 

0.75; 1.00;  1.25 g ha
−1

) and two doses of N  (20 and 40 kg ha
−1

). The zero dosage corresponded to the control 

with water application only. In both seasons, kinetin was applied in the phenological stage R3 [15] on the leaf 



American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2020) Volume 69, No  1, pp 113-120 

115 
 

by means of spray with CO2 pressure, constant pressure of 2.8 kgf.cm
-2

, and with syrup volume of 200 L ha
−1

 

and N used in the form of urea applied to launch at the beginning of the formation of vegetables (R3). 

The experimental plots consisted of four lines of 5 meters in length, spaced 0.45 m, considering useful area the 

two central rows, disregarding 0.50 m from the extremities. 

In the 2016/2017 harvest, soybean grows crops BMX Bonus IPRO, early cycle and habit of undetermined 

growth were used. In the 2017/2018 harvest, the new cultivars MSOY 8808 IPRO, late-cycle and habit of 

determined growth were used. In both harvests the seeds were inoculated with Bradyrhizobium japonicum, 

Semia 5079 and Semia 5080 strains, at a minimum rate of 12x10
−5

 bacteria cells per seed, in sowing. 

For sowing, desiccation was performed, followed by direct sowing in straw. Sowing fertilization was performed 

in the sowing groove, based on the results of chemical and physical analysis of the soil, with 500 kg ha
−1

 of 

fertilized formulated NPK (2-30-10). The remaining K fertilization was performed 30 days after seedling 

emergence at a dose of 80 kg ha
−1

 of K2O in the form of potassium chloride (58% K2O). Cultural treatment of 

pest control, diseases and weeds were carried out according to the need. 

The agronomic characteristics of soybean crop were evaluated in R8 obtaining plant height (cm), first pod 

insertion height (cm), number of stems, number of grains per plant, number of pods per plant, number of grains 

per pod, mass of one hundred grains (g), and later the useful area was harvested to determine grain yield (kg 

ha
−1

) to 13% moisture. 

The data were submitted to variance analysis, with an application of the f-test, because it verified the 

significance of the effects of regression, the highest degree model was chosen. The analyses were performed 

using the computational application of Sisvar® [16]. 

3. Results and discussion 

Table 1: Digest of the analysis of variance of plant height characteristics (HP), first pod insertion height (I1P), 

number of rods (NR), number of pods per plant (NPP), number of grains per plant (NG), number of grains per 

pod (NGP), mass of one hundred grains (MHG) and productivity (PROD) harvest 2016/2017. 

Variation factors GL 
Medium squares 

AP A1V NH NVP NGP NGV MCG PROD 

Blocks 3 781,36 28,37 0,16 1,44 16,83 0,03 4,43 102821,40 

Kinetin (C) 5 10,48 1,27 0,43 10,52 49,73 0,03 0,87 258177,70 

Nitrogen (N) 1 0,08 0,19 0,23 117,81* 800,33** 0,02 1,14 73633,33 

C x N 5 38,38 1,75 0,84 94,59*** 276,63** 0,03 0,76 175577,80 

Residue 33 25,68 1,88 0,47 16,60 68,67 0,031 1,11 104869,90 

Medium  90,2 20,0 4,0 43,5 83,3 1,9 18,0 3809,4 

CV (%)  5,62 6,85 17,22 9,38 9,94 9,48 5,85 8,50 

The *, ** and *** Significant at 5, 1 and 0.1% probability, respectively, by test-F 

 

 



American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2020) Volume 69, No  1, pp 113-120 

116 
 

In the 2016/2017 harvest, kinetin doses did not influence the agronomic characteristics evaluated (Table 1). But, 

there was effect for the number of pods and the number of grains per plant with the application of N associated 

or not kinetin. 

The dose of 40 kg ha
−1

 N increased the number of pods per plant and consequently the number of grains per 

plant, but was not enough to increase productivity (Table 2). The increase in the number of pods may be the 

result of the lower consumption of assimilated by biological fixation [17], due to the plant’s preference to 

absorb readily assimilated nitrogen supplied by fertilizer [18], more photoassimilates left for the formation of 

pods. 

Table 2: Digest of the analysis of variance of plant height characteristics (HP), first pod insertion height (I1P), 

number of rods (NR), number of pods per plant (NPP), number of grains per plant (NG), number of grains per 

pod (NGP), mass of one hundred grains (MHG) and productivity (PROD) harvest 2016/2017. 

Doses of  N 
AP 

(cm) 

A1V 

(cm) 

NH 

(n) 

NVP 

(n) 

NGP 

(n) 

NGV 

(n) 

MCG 

(g) 

PROD 

(kg ha
-1

) 

20 kg ha
-1

 90,2 a 20,1 a 3,9 a 41,9 b 79,3 b 1,9 a 17,8 a 3848 a 

40 kg ha
-1

 90,3 a 20,0 a 4,0 a 45,0 a 87,4 a 1,9 a 18,1 a 3770 a 

Averages followed by the same letter in the column are not significantly different by t-test (p ≤ 0,05). 

 

The interaction occurred between kinetin and N for the number of pods per plant and the number of grains per 

plant (Figure 1). The number of pods per plant and number of grains per plant did not present interaction with 

20 kg ha
−1

 of N, but the dose of 40 kg ha
−1

 of N presented quadratic behavior in both characteristics. For the 

number of pods per plant, maximum technical efficiency was obtained with 0.82 g ha
−1

 of kinetin, and for the 

characteristic number of grains per plant, maximum technical efficiency was obtained with 0.86 g ha
−1

 of 

kinetin. The application of kinetin can increase the translocation of assimilated to drains due to higher 

photosynthetic rate, thus increasing the number of pods [5] and consequently the number of grains per plant, and 

can still fix more units in improved cultivars resulting in higher means of number of grains and pods [19].  

 



American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2020) Volume 69, No  1, pp 113-120 

117 
 

 

Figure 1: Interaction between kinetin e nitrogen for the number of the characteristic of pods per plant and the 

number of grains per plant harvest 2016/2017. 

 

 

Table 3: Summary of variance analysis of plant height characteristics (AP), first pod insertion height (A1V), 

number of pods per plant (NVP), number of grains per plant (NGP), number of grains per pod (NGV), hundred-

grain mass (MCG) productivity (PROD) harvest 2017/2018. 

Variation 

factors 

GL 

Medium squares 

AP A1V NH NVP NGP NGV MCG PROD 

Blocks 2 38,93 0,46 1,10 1,43 26,43 0,02 0,02 119902,50 

Kinetin 

(C) 
4 70,33* 8,09 1,82 139,13 714,38 0,02 0,69 210350,30 

Nitrogen 

(N) 
1 1400,83*** 54,68*** 2,03 1526,53** 12040,03*** 0,28** 0,07 3444241,00*** 

C x N 4 5,33 3,69 1,15 133,53 733,62 0,01 0,28 439141,40 

Residue 18 22,71 3,72 0,85 107,43 750,69 0,03 0,30 167767,70 

Medium  80,2 15,2 5,6 58,1 122,4 2,1 9,7 3115,4 

CV (%)  5,94 12,66 16,49 17,85 22,38 7,61 5,65 13,15 

The *, ** and *** Significant to 5, 1 and 0,1% probability, respectively, by test-F. 

There was a decrease of 8.9% (7.5 cm) at the time of plants with the application of kinetin (Figure 2). This 

behavior occurs due to the effect of cytokine on the breakdown of apical dominance promoting the growth of 

lateral buds reducing its growth [20]. 



American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2020) Volume 69, No  1, pp 113-120 

118 
 

 

Figure 2: Plant height depending on the doses of kinetin Harvest 2017/2018. 

 

The dose of 40 kg ha
−1

 of N provided an increase in plant height and insertion of the first pod, but reduced the 

number of pods per plant, number of grains per plant, number of grains per pod and grain yield (Table 4). 

Table 4: Summary of variance analysis of plant height characteristics (AP), first pod insertion height (A1V), 

number of pods per plant (NVP), number of grains per plant (NGP), number of grains per pod (NGV), hundred-

grain mass (MCG) productivity (PROD) harvest 2017/2018. 

Doses de N 
AP 

(cm) 

A1V 

(cm) 

NH 

(n) 

NVP 

(n) 

NGP 

(n) 

NGV 

(n) 

MCG 

(g) 

PROD 

(kg ha
-1

) 

20 kg ha
-1

 72,8 b 13,9 b 5,3 a 65,2 a 142,5 a 2,18 a 9,6 a 3454 a 

40 kg ha
-1

 85,8 a 16,6 a 5,8 a 50,9 b 102,4 b 1,98 b 9,7 a 2777 b 

Averages followed by the same letter in the column are not significantly different by t-test (p ≤ 0,05). 

Due to the plant still growing at the time of N application, the use of 40 kg ha
−1

 of this nutrient stimulated 

vegetative growth resulting in higher plant height and higher height of first pod insertion. However, the supply 

of N through fertilizers impairs the biological fixation of N causing a deficit of this nutrient [21]. What result 

in the reduction of the number of pods and grains per plant, number of grains per pods and grain yield. The use 

of 20 kg ha
−1

 of N was not enough to impair the biological fixation of N, resulting in 677 kg ha
−1

 more in 

productivity compared to the application of 40 kg ha
−1

 of N. The difference in the results obtained between the 

crops can be attributed to cultivars since each cultivar has a different nutritional requirement [22] and 

morphological characteristics that also vary within the same maturation group and type of growth. The use of 

kinetin could have obtained a higher result if there was an adverse climatic condition in both harvests. 

According to the reference [23] using bioregulation during stage R3, in a crop with Indian summer, obtained 

yield 932 kg ha
−1

 higher compared to treatment without application. To better understand the application of N 

associated kinetin, a study with a greater number of cultivars in different climatic conditions is necessary. 

4. Conclusions 

The application of N associated or not kinetin increases the number of pods and the number of grains per 

plant. The application of kinetin and 40 kg ha
−1

 of N do not result in productivity gains for the harvest. 



American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2020) Volume 69, No  1, pp 113-120 

119 
 

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