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 of endemic variability. The earlier soybean introductions have been owing to propinquity of these areas with China. Early varieties like Punjab Whitel Punjab-I and a host of strains grouped under Bhat/Bhatmash/Kalitur are also part of this 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, photo in sensitivity, 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.
Soybean, Introduction, Evaluation, Crop improvement
