Soybean

Ukraine is the largest producer of soybeans in Europe: between 2000 and 2014, soybean acreage increased from 64.4 thousand to 2.0 million hectares. In 2020, 2.8 million tons of soybeans were harvested from an area of 1.3 million hectares with an average yield of 2.15 t/ha.

Soybean is grown in all the natural and climatic zones of Ukraine, but the most favorable conditions for this crop are in the Forest-Steppe, in the so-called "soybean belt." With intensification of modern agriculture, the agricultural and environmental importance of soybean as a plant that responds to irrigation, fixes atmospheric nitrogen in symbiosis with nodule bacteria, enriching the soil with fixed nitrogen and protecting the soil against erosion, is a good forecrop in crop rotation. Complete and appropriate execution of all methods and technological operations within the optimal timeframe will ensure yields of 2.5-3.0 t/ha on non-irrigated lands and of 3.8-4.5 t ha under irrigation.

The State Register of Plant Varieties Suitable for Dissemination in Ukraine includes seven soybean cultivars bred by the Plant Production Institute named after V.Ya. Yuriev of NAAS. They all are grain cultivars, able to fully meet the requirements of modern intensive agricultural production; their yield potentials amount to 4.0-5.0 t/ha; their seeds are of high quality; and they are resistant to lodging and shedding, suitable for direct combining, and more adapted to the regional soil and climatic conditions of Ukraine in compison with foreign cultivars. Cultivation of new cultivars will increase the crop yields, increase the efficiency of using material and technical resources, and improve the quality of commercial and seed products.