Recently, the Huaihe River Eco-Environmental Science Research Center submitted its application to the CBCGDF, and hopes to establish the “China Protected Area for Wild Soybean at Shenqiu”. Based on years of studies on wild soybean by the center, it is found that there are wild soybeans growing in many counties (cities) of Zhoukou City, Henan Province. The application also mentioned that soybean is an important crop across the world, and the United States has long occupied the dominance of the international soybean market. However, in the late 1960s, severe mosaic disease caused the overall collapse of the US soybean crop industry, and its soybean production dropped sharply from 80% of the world's total production to less than 20%. Later, China's soybeans have taken the lead and replaced the international market quickly.
Under the technical conditions of the time, the only way to overcome soybean mosaic disease was to introduce antiviral genes through cross breeding. The only source of this original antiviral gene is wild soybean. China, the origin of soybeans, is the only country with wild soybeans. In the end, the United States created a new anti-viral soybean variety through the hybridization of wild soybeans with American soybean, and quickly recovered the soybean market. This shows the importance of protecting the germplasm resources and genetic diversity of wild soybeans in China.
Soybeans was recorded by Chinese ancient poems and was describe as “Shu”(菽). Wild soybean resources, which are progenitor of cultivated soybean with selected agronomic characters, have rich genetic diversity.
The soybean (Glycine max), or soya bean,[3] is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses.
Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu and tofu skin are made. Fermented soy foods include soy sauce, fermented bean paste, natto, and tempeh.
The main countries growing soybeans are the United States (32% of world total, 2016 forecast), Brazil (31%) and Argentina (18%).
(Photo source: Huaihe River Eco-Environmental Science Research Center)
(Photo source: Internet)
Original Chinese article:
http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4855/6651.html
By / Cat