Abstract

The Soybean, Glycine max L. is a native of Eastern Asia. The culture and use of the Soybean are recorded in the ancient Chinese literature and undoubtedly date from a period long before the time of written documents. It is the most important legume in China where it is one of the most essential articles of food. There is sufficient evidence to show that soybeanihas also been culti- vated in Northern India and Burma since a long time. Major T. E. T. Aitchison (1881) found the soybean largely cultivated in the Kuram valley, North-west Frontier Province, especially in the Kuram district, occasionally in Hariab and also frequently as a weed in the cultivated fields. Hooper (1911) in his investigations on soybeans has recorded seeds aggregating perhaps into nine distinct varieties, collected from Burma and from places situated on the lower slopes of the Himalayas extending from Kashmir to Darjeeling. Woodhouse and Taylar (1913) describe nine Indian varieties secured from Darjeeling, Bankipur and Bhagalpur. Most of the Indian. varieties have slender twining stems, small pods and small seeds. They resemble the wild soybeans much more closely than do the varieties of China and Japan. The existence of different local names for soybeans in Bengal, Assam, Nepal and the North-west Frontier Provinces is also an evidence of its ancient culture in India.

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