Soybean: Introduction, Improvement, and Utilization in India—Problems and Prospects

Abstract

The start of commercial exploitation of soybean in India is nearly four decades old. In this period, the crop has shown unparallel growth in area and production. Soybean has established itself as a major rainy season crop in the rainfed agro-ecosystem of central and peninsular India. Introduction of soybean has resulted in an enhancement in the cropping intensity and resultant increase in the profitability per unit land area. In India, soybean will continue to remain a major rainfed oilseed crop. A number of varieties that have been bred have resulted in this unprecedented growth. The simulation studies and on-farm demonstrations indicate that with current varieties, the rainfed potential of soybean in India is about 2.1 t/ha against the national average productivity of just 1.2 t/ha. Hence, large yield gaps exist between the potential and the actual yields harvested by the farmers. Narrowing of this yield gap may lead to doubling of soybean production. National Agricultural Research System has so far been successful in meeting the research demands of agrarian and industrial community. Further improvements in the yield of soybean grain and quality of soybean oil are possible by use of new research methodologies and by exploitation of recent advances in biology.

AMMI and GGE biplot analysis of multi environment yield trial of soybean in North Western Himalayan state Uttarakhand of India

“…It is known to have high protein content (about 35-40%) and lipids (15-20%), particularly polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (Arnoldi, 2013). Soybean is the world's most important seed legume, which contributes 25% of the global edible oil, about two-thirds of the world's protein concentrate for livestock feeding (Agarwal et al, 2013) and presently, ranks first among oilseeds both at national and global level. In India, potential of soybean has been tremendously exploited and its production has attained phenomenal gains in short span of time through wide commercial cultivation of high yield genotypes.…”

Molecular characterization and genetic diversity analysis of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) germplasm accessions in India

“…Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) cultivation in India dates back to the 1st century AD (Hymowitz 1990), however commercial cultivation of soybean in India started only few decades ago with unprecedented growth in the cultivated area and total production (Tiwari et al 1999;Agarwal et al 2013). In the present scenario of oilseed production in India, soybean is the leading oilseed crop which is grown over 10.69 million hectare with total production of 14.66 million tonnes during the year 2012 (Anonymous 2014).…”

“…holds 4248 germplasm accessions of soybean which comprises of indigenous collections, land races, wild species and exotic collections from USA, Taiwan, Philippines, China, Brazil, Argentina and Thailand (Prabhakar and Bhatnagar 1995;Agarwal et al 2013). Although morphological characterization of the whole soybean germplasm collection of India has been done but molecular characterization, a useful method for understanding extent of variation and relationship among different accessions is not performed yet.…”

A Bayesian classification approach for predicting Gesonia gemma Swinhoe population on soybean crop in relation to abiotic factors based on economic threshold level

“…India holds the fifth position next to China among largest producers of soybean in the world. Soybean is mainly cultivated in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh (Agarwal et al, 2013). Soybean in India is infested by about 20 major insect species, of which semiloopers are important.…”