Abstract: Poor plant stand is one of the important factors responsible for low yields of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill). Poor plant stand, apart from other reasons, could also be due to rainfall soon after sowing but before emergence of the crop, which results in crust formation. The aim of the present study was to improve the emergence of soybean under crusted field conditions. Two field experiments were conducted on a loamy sand soil during kharif (rainy) season of 1999 and 2001 to study the effects of various mulching treatments on the emergence of soybean under simulated and natural rainfall. Under simulated rainfall the emergence of soybean was not only quicker but was also improved by covering rows with the use of 3 t wheat straw ha-1 and 5 t farmyard manure (FYM) ha-1 over no use of mulch (28.5, 26.5 and 18.5 plants m-1 row length after 6 days of sowing, respectively). Under natural rainfall the emergence improved substantially with the use of wheat straw mulch when only the rows of soybean were covered with it using 3 t straw mulch ha-1 (row mulch) or the whole plot was covered using 6 t straw mulch ha-1 (plot mulch). Row mulch, plot mulch and non-mulched plots had 23.0, 25.3 and 8.6-9.8 plants m-1 row length, respectively after 12 days of sowing. Row mulch as well as plot mulch treatments were very effective in reducing dry matter of weeds.