Effect of different Agriphotovoltaics system on yield and yield attributes of soybean

Introduction

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] is the most important seed legume of family Leguminosae and subfamily Papilionoidea and it contributes nearly 25% of the world's edible oil production. Soybean was introduced into India from China. In several countries, soybean is popularly referred to as the "cow of the field" or "gold from the soil" due to its high economic and nutritional value. Soybean contributes to soil fertility and agricultural productivity by fixing atmospheric nitrogen through symbiotic association with Rhizobium bacteria present in root nodules (Mahbub et al., 2016). The rapid growth of the population coupled with a continuous decline in cultivable land poses a significant challenge to the sustainable cultivation of soybean in the region. According to the Third Advance Estimates for the year 2025-26 released by the Government of India, soybean production is estimated at 125.96 lakh tonnes, reflecting a decline compared to 152.68 lakh tonnes recorded during year 2024-25. Area declined from 129.52 lakh ha. in year 2024-25 to 123.86 lakh ha. in year 2025-26. The growing global demand for both food and energy poses significant challenges to agricultural productivity and energy sustainability, specially in regions constrained by limited arable land. In this context, agriphotovoltaic systems have emerged as a viable and innovative approach, enabling the concurrent production of agricultural crops and renewable energy on the same land area. Goetzberger and Zastrow (1982) introduced the concept of APV but recently the increased environmental concerns and the economic frameworks have stimulated a growing interest in this technology. Agriphotovoltaic (APV) systems, integrate crop cultivation with solar photovoltaic installations on the same land area. APV systems can modify the crop microclimate through partial shading, resulting in reduced evapotranspiration, improved soil moisture conservation and moderated temperature fluctuations. Such effects may help crops better withstand climate related stresses while contributing to renewable energy production. The success of APV systems depends largely on identifying crops that can adapt to the altered environmental conditions created beneath solar panels. This investigation carried out with objective: To measure and evaluate soybean for yield analysis under Photovoltaic system.

Materials and Methods

The present study carried out at "Agriphotovoltaic Research Project, Manwat, District, Parbhani." (Maharashtra, India). The agriphotovoltaic system comprises area below solar panels, partially below solar panel, in between solar panels and a control non-photovoltaic field (open plot) outside of the agriphotovoltaic system. The ground mounted photovoltaic panels (PVPs) are installed in south-facing direction. The field is divided into four sections: Three agriphotovoltaic sections and one Non-PV section (control section) The panel specification includes four types of panels, all with 20% efficiency and 11°t ilt. The ground clearance of panels varies as The performance of yield parameters like number of pods per cluster, number of clusters per plant, two and three seeded pods per plant, total number of pods per plant, seed yield per plant, test weight, seed germination percentage and harvest index, were calculated after harvesting. The collected data was statistically analysed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) method.

Result and Discussion

Experimental data of yield parameters like number of pods per cluster, number of clusters per plant, two seeded and three seeded pods per plant, total pods per plant, , seed yield per plant, test weight, seed germination percentage and harvest index were calculated. [1] studied that under an APV system the number of pods per plant were reduced. Shade reduces number of flower per plant, stimulate flower and pod abscission which negatively affect number of pod per plant. Pods on branches made a much larger contribution to total pod load (Egli et al., 2005) [2] . In case of three seeded pod, maximum number of three seeded pod (9.33) observed in treatment T 7 i.e. [3] in soybean, shading decreased seed weight and the numbers of pod. Also seed number per plant in soybean and seed number per capsule in sesame between photovoltaic conditions and open field conditions were recorded by Lee et al. (2022) [4] . The result showed that different agriphotovoltaics system severely affected seed yield per plant. The maximum seed yield per plant (9.08 gm) obtained in treatment T 7 i.e. 3 m sowing distance away from center of 3.75 m bifacial panel height with 5.65 m pitch distance and minimum seed yield per plant (3.97 gm) obtained in treatment T 1 i.e. 0.5 m sowing distance away from center of 1.75 m monofacial panel height with 7.5 m pitch distance. Soybean yield ha -1 on open condition is 27-30 qtha -1 . Below panel there is 38.13 % to 53.83 % decrease in yield per plant as compared to in between or Non-PV system but simultaneously, there was also electricity generation on same field. There was 5.58 % increase in yield in treatment T 7 i.e. 3 m sowing distance away from center of 3.75 m bifacial panel height with 5.65 m pitch distance. The huge difference between below panel and in between panel is due to intense shading, which limits photosynthetically active radiation, reduces photosynthetic rate and decrease availability of photosynthates for seed development. Similar findings observed by Potenza et al., (2022) [1] in soybean the yield reduction experienced under the shade of the APV system is associated with a negative impact of shade during the pod set stage. Soybean grain yield in the open fields was significantly higher than that under the APV system (Jo et al., 2022) [5] . The result showed that different test weight of soybean is influenced by different agriphotovoltaics system. Maximum test weight (13.50) was recorded in treatment T 13 i.e. 0.5 m sowing distance away from center of 1.25 m bifacial panel height with 10 m pitch distance. The increase in seed weight below panel formed fewer total seeds due to shaded conditions. There was limited number of developing seeds which act as stronger individual assimilate sink, accumulating more mass and giving higher test weight. While, minimum test weight (12.47) were recorded in treatments T 4 i.e. 4.5 m sowing distance away from center of 1.75 m monofacial panel height with 7 m pitch distance and T 16 i.e. 4.5 m sowing distance away from center of 1.25 m bifacial panel height with 10 m pitch distance which was below panel treatments. The data from table 2 showed that maximum harvest index (49.75) obtained in treatment T 7 i.e. 3 m sowing distance away from center of 3.75 m bifacial panel height with 5.65 m pitch distance and minimum harvest index (28.36) obtained in treatment T 1 i.e. 0.5 m sowing distance away from center of 1.75 m monofacial panel height with 7.5 m pitch distance. There was increased in harvest index in between panel and Non-PV system as compared to below panel due to adequate availability of PAR which allocate photoassimilates for development of reproductive sink (pod and seed development) and below panel shading plant trigger shade avoiding response expanding maximum energy on petiole and hypocotyls elongation. Similar findings were obtained in soybean, below panel decreasing the photosynthetic rate decreases harvest index (Shan et al., 2022) [6] . Mani et al. (2025b) [7] studied that in between interspaces which gave comparable yield with open space cultivation can be successfully used for soybean cultivation.

Seed germination percentage was taken within one month after harvesting by drying seed upto optimum moisture. This test was performed to know the seed qualities for seed production under agriphotovoltaics. The findings showed that maximum germination percentage (98.67 %) obtained in treatment T 4 i.e.

Conclusion

The study demonstrated that soybean yield attributes like seed yield and seed quality were affected by agriphotovoltaic (APV) system configuration. The treatment having a 3 m sowing distance away from center of 3.75 m bifacial panel with 5.65 m pitch distance (T 7 ) produced the highest values for number of pods per cluster, number of clusters per plant, of pods per plant, seed yield per plant and harvest index performing better than the Non-PV system. In contrast, crops grown directly beneath the panels, particularly T 1 recorded the lowest performance due to prolonged shading, which restricted pod development and assimilate accumulation but showed higher test weight. Seed yield under below panel conditions declined by 38.13-53.83% compared with in between panel and Non-PV treatment. The highest germination was observed in T 4 and T 12 while T 13 showed the lowest germination. Overall, the findings indicate that APV systems with higher bifacial panel and adequate spacing can reduce shading effects and sustain soybean productivity and seed quality, making them a more suitable design for integrating crop production with solar energy generation.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementWe acknowledge the GIZ, Germany as present research was conducted under collaborative research project funded and supported by GIZ Germany along with VNMKV, Parbhani. The authors deeply thank for the support of the Department of Plant Physiology, College of Agriculture, VNMKV Parbhani for providing equipment used in experiments and facilities available at department.

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9. How to cite this article: Pune BU, Pawar GS, Ghuge VR, Mishra IM, Baig KS, Borkar SK, et al. Effect of different Agriphotovoltaics system on yield and yield attributes of soybean. International Journal of Advanced Biochemistry Research. 2026;SP-10(9):2405-2411. doi: https://www.doi.org/10.33545/26 174693.2026.v10.i9Sad.10189