Evaluation of economic characters of soybean varieties under the conditions of the foothill-steppe zone of East Kazakhstan

Abstract

Half of the world’s plant protein consumption is made up of soy proteins. The cost of soy protein is several times lower than protein of animal origin. A third of the vegetable oil consumed by humans in the world is soybean oil. More than 400 types of food products are produced from soybean grains. The rapid development of the soybean growing and processing industry predetermines the expansion of commercial seed production volumes. This may be achieved by introducing highly productive commercial soybean varieties into other regions. This paper discusses the research findings on economic characters of 38 soybean varieties developed in Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Germany, Canada and China under the conditions of the foothill-steppe zone of East Kazakhstan. The experiments were carried out under rainfed conditions. The length of the growing season and the yield formula of the varieties were determined. The indices of the protein and oil content in the seeds were evaluated. Regarding the length of the growing season, the varieties belong to the ultra-early ripening, very early ripening and early ripening groups. All studied varieties ripen under the conditions of the foothill-steppe zone of East Kazakhstan. Significant gains of 0.24-0.89 t ha of seed yields over the control were obtained from the following varieties: Vostochnaya krasavitsa, Tanais, Korsak, Saska, L. Viz, VNIIS-1, Dauriya, and Oressa. The lowest yields were obtained from the following varieties: Kharbin, L-N-S, Altom, Kofu, and Sibiryachka. The highest protein content in seeds was found in the varieties Alua - 39.4% and Vostochnaya krasavitsa - 39.0%. Protein content from 37.3 to 36.0% was found in the following varieties: Oressa, Ros, Pripyat, Volma, Lybid, Garmoniya, L-S-6, Sibiryachka, Zolotistaya, Soer 4, Daneliya and Saule. In the varieties Birlik KV, Vostochnaya krasavitsa, Alua, Lidiya, Dauriya, Soer 4, Amurskaya 401, L-S-6, Skulptor, Sunrise, Lybid, Desna, Tanais and Korsak, the thousand-seed weight was above 140 g. The largest seed weight was found in the varieties Korsak - 184.3 g and Tanais - 177.3 g.