Isolation and Culture of Glycine Protoplasts

Abstract

The soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr., first emerged as a domesticated plant in the eastern half of north China around the eleventh century B. C, according to historical, linguistic and geographical evidence (Hymowitz 1970). By the first century A. D., it had probably spread through central and south China and into Korea; from there it expanded into countries throughout the far east, and many land races were developed (Hymowitz and Newell 1980). The crop’s rise to a position of worldwide economic importance has taken place relatively recently, and only within the last 50 years have plant breeders made concerted efforts to develop improved cultivars, which are adapted to the USA, by artifical hybridization. Approximately 51 million hectares of soybean are currently grown worldwide in 44 countries, with the USA (25 million ha) and Brazil (9 million ha) being the largest producers. In the USA alone, this adds up to a crop value of 11 billion dollars Anonymous 1986).