Plant Introductions in Soybean - Achievements and Opportunities

Abstract

Soybean presently covers about 8 million hectares in the country and significantly contributes towards agrarian
economy and farm-prosperity. Although soybean has originated in China, the north-eastern region of the Indian subcontinent
has a degree ofendemic variability. The earlier soybean introductions have been owing to propinquity ofthese
areas with China. Early varieties like Punjab Whitel Punjab-I and a host of strains grouped under Bhat! Bhatmash I
Kaliturare also partofthis endemic variability. These have saved the Indian soybean variability from the founder-effect
as, later, most of the yellow-seeded varieties and strains of soybean in India have been introduced via USA. Several
important genes such as those for resistance to yellow mosaic virus and other diseases, nutritional characteristics,
photoinsensitivity, long-juvenility etc. have been introduced in India, mainly from USA followed by Taiwan, Brazil
and other countries. Of late, a sizable number of black-seeded soybean varieties of Indian provenance have been
repatriated from USDA, USA. The introductions particularly for specific genes of interest have helped in bringing
about a renaissance of this ancient crop of northern India into a commercial crop of the country. Opportunities exist
to further have directed-introduction for several traits and genes of interest which were hitherto unimportant but are
presently assuming significance such as those for food and nutritional quality, lack of anti-nutritional factors etc.