'Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)'
Abstract
Cultivated soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) is a major oilseed and protein rich annual legume crop grown on about 99 million ha and producing 223 million tonne of grain worldwide (FAO, 2011). The crop orginated in China and is closely related to Glycine soja, its wild progenitor, Soybean represents nearly 50 percent of the total area cropped with seeds providing approximately 56 percent of the total edible oil seeds and 30 percent of vegetable oil production worldwide. Over the last 50 years, world production has increased eight times as a result of the substantial increase in average yields and the expansion in cultivated area