Soybean
lat. Glycine maxGroup: Fruits and Vegetables
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Botanical Name – Glycine max Common Name: Soyabean, Soy (English), Soja (Spanish, French), Sojabohne (German), Sojaboena (Sweden). |
HABITAT and DISTRIBUTION
Glycine max is a sub-tropical plant but its cultivation extends to tropical and temperate climate regions. Soy ist most oftenly cultivated in regions with hot, damp summer weather.
ORIGIN
The soy bean (Glycine max), also known as "miracle crop" with its 40% protein and 20% oil contents, has its origins in China. It was as early as in 2853 BC when the Emperor Sheng-Nung of China named it as one of the five sacred grains, along with glutinous and regular millet, wheat, beans and rice. Thus, soy bean has been cultivated in China for more than 4,000 years. Between the first century AD and 1100 AD soy beans were exportet to nearby countries such as Burma (Myanmar), Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
HISTORY
Around 1100 B.C soy beans, the only type of Glycine, were first cultivated around the Yangzte River in Northern China. Like other oil seed crops, soy beans grew larger, sturdier and indehiscent (meaning the pods do not naturally split open to release the seed). The use of soy beans as food dates back to the beginning of China's agricultural age. The utilization of this crop is mentioned in Chinese medical compilations dating back 6,000 years. For centuries soy beans have been equal to meat, milk, cheese, bread and oil to the people of China, Japan, Korea, Manchuria, the Philippines and Indonesia. This explains why in these countries this crop has often been referred to as "Cow of the field" or "Gold from soil.
With the soy beans' recognition as the "golden bean" or the "miracle bean," the western world provided a massive push to its growth during the early part of the century. The crop, in fact, has revolutionized the agricultural economy of the USA, with its immense potential for food, feed and numerous industrial products. At present, the USA, Brazil and China are the Big 3 in soybean production, with the USA enjoying hegemony. The USA account for more than 50 percent of the world's soy bean cultivation.
BOTANY
The soy bean is an erect, much branched, pubescent annual, 0.8-1.6 m long in height, depending on varieties, although in some varieties it tends to be creeping or twining. The leaves are large, alternate, and stipulate and generally have a long petiole. The leaves are trifoliate and the leaflets are ovate to lanceolate. The pods, stems, and leaves covered with fine brown or gray hairs. The flowers are small, varying in color from nearly white to deep purple and are borne on short axillary racemes, each bearing three to fifteen flowers. The seeds are small, ranging in color from creamy white through various shades of grey and brown to nearly black, and are contained in a short, narrow hairy legume or pod.
The pods are slightly constricted between the seeds, each having two to four seeds. Numerous cultivars are recognized in the Far East that vary in time to maturity, height, plant type, size, color, content of oil and protein in the seed, and the uses to which they are put. For oil production, yellow seeds are preferred. For immature seeds to be used as a vegetable, forms with large yellow or green seeds are preferred. Hay and fodder cultivars usually have brown or black seeds and the plants often twine.
CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS
Soy beans are a rich source of edible oil containing no cholesterol and almost none of the saturated fats. Soy bean oil is better and healthier than all other oils because it is an ideal food for heart patients and those who wish to avoid heart disease. It also contains a large amount of lecithin and a fair amount of fat-soluble vitamins. Lecithin is an important constituent of all organs of the human body and especially of the nervous tissue, the heart and liver. Therefore, the soy bean is a good food.
Dry soy beans contain 36% protein, 19% oil, 35% carbohydrate (17% of which is dietary fiber), 5% minerals and several other components including α-Linolenic acid, Isoflavones, Lecithins, Lectins, Linoleic acid, Peptides, Phytosterols, Saponin etc. Soy beans are a better source of B-vitamins compared to cereals, although it lacks B and vitamin C. Soy bean oil also contains tocopherols, which are excellent natural antioxidants. Soy bean oil contains a-tocopherol, β-tocopherol, γ-tocopherol, and d-tocopherol in trace amounts (mg/kg). Soy beans also contain minerals K, P, Ca, Mg, and Fe. Soy ferritin can supplement reasonable quantities of iron.
Intellectual Property Rights and Genetically Modified Soybeans
Glycine max is one of the "biotech crops” that have been genetically manipulated (GMOs) and are being used in an increasing number of products. In 1995, Monsanto Company introduced Roundup Ready ® (RR) soy beans that have been genetically modified to be resistant to Monsanto's herbicide Roundup through substitution of the Agrobacterium sp. (strain CP4) gene EPSP (5-enolpyruvyl shikimic acid-3-phosphate) synthase. Seed saving is a historical cultural phenomenon that dates back to the beginning of agriculture itself. After planting a certified seed variety for the first time, farmers often keep some seed from the harvest for use in the following year. Soy bean seeds contain all that is needed for their own reproduction and because of their unique characteristics they have offered a particularly large obstacle to capital accumulation. The ability to save one’s own seeds offers strong competition to the seed industry.
In the United States, intellectual property rights legislation and Supreme Court decisions have played an important role in overcoming these unique characteristics and have made it possible for input supply companies to extract more profit from the farm production process. The seed-saving practices of soybean growers in the US indicate that large farms have consistently saved seed in the US.
However, with the introduction of Roundup Ready® soy beans the nature of seed saving was drastically changed. It is a big issue, that the combination of expanding intellectual property rights, "new" GM technology, and the ideology of the technological treadmill has successfully overcome the seeds’ inherent obstacles to capitalist accumulation. In capitalizing nature’s production, Monsanto and other leading seed corporations have been able to incur massive profits from the licensing of commercial seed supplies. As a result, US farmers are facing further loss of control of the farm production process.
USES
Soy beans are not merely as a means to supply food for humans and animals, but also at the same time to serve as a means for improving soil through their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen. As a legume, it is an ideal component of a sound agricultural system.
A large number of Indian and western dishes such as bread, chapati, milk, sweets, pastries etc., are prepared with soy bean. Wheat flour fortified with soy bean flour makes for a good quality and more nutritious chapati (Bread). Soy bean oil is used for manufacturing vanaspati ghee and several other industrial products. Soybean is used for making high protein food for children.
Soy can be used as fodder; forage can be made into hay, silage etc. Its forage and cake are excellent nutritive foods for livestock and poultry.
A number of soy components have potential anticancer activity. Soybean contains several components with anticancer activity, such as, isoflavones, protease inhibitors, phytosterols, saponins, phenolic acids, and phytates.
A soybean diet may be a good option in type 2 diabetes individuals due to its effect on hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, atherosclerosis and obesity in diabetic patients.
Soy milk is produced by soaking dry soy seeds and grinding them with water. Soy milk contains equal amount of proteins as cow’s milk.
Various recipes and products such as Miso soup, Soynut butter, Tempeh and tofu are made from soy.
Author: Dr. Chandra Shekhar Gupta (cshekhar)
Photos by: trapon, dvmoc, HarryAKA
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