SOYA BEAN

SOYA BEAN

Soya bean or Soja bean (Glycine max) is an annual legume of the pea family and its edible seed. The soya bean is economically the most important bean as it provides vegetable protein for millions of people across the world and also use as ingredients for many chemical industries. The soya bean is one of the richest and cheapest sources of protein and is a staple in the diets of people and animals across the world. The seed contains seventeen per cent oil and sixty three per cent meal of which, fifty per cent is protein. Seeds can be yellow, green, brown, black, or bicoloured, though most commercial varieties have brown or tan seeds, with one to four seeds per pod.

Soya beans contain no starch hence they are good source of protein for diabetics, they are also sprouted for use as a salad ingredient or as a vegetable and may be eaten roasted as a snack food.

Modern research has led to a remarkable variety of uses for the soya bean. Its oil can be processed into margarine, shortening, and vegetarian and vegan cheeses. Soya bean meal serves as a high- protein meat substitute in many food products, including baby foods and vegetarian foods and can be imparted with a meat-like texture for increasing the cooked yield of ground meats. The oil of soya beans is used as ingredient by most chemical industries in the production of paints, adhesives, fertilizers, sizing for cloth, linoleum backing, and fire extinguisher fluids among other products.  

Soya bean may be cultivated in most types of soil but it thrives in warm, fertile, well drained, sandy loam. The crop is planted after all danger of frost is past and are usually harvested mechanically after the leaves have fallen off the plant and the moisture of the seed dropped to 13 per cent, to enable safe storage.