Abstract:
Soybean is unique among vegetables; no other single vegetable plant supplies all the essential nutrients for human and infant growth. It is an important crop as a source of cooking oil and soymilk for human consumption plus soy cake and soymeal as a livestock feed. But its adoption, production and utilisation have been very slow due to cultural, technical and socioeconomic constraints. The mature soybean seed has three major components, the seed coat (hull), the cotyledon and the embryo axis (hypocotyl). It is a typical legume seed differing, in colour, size and shape depending on variety.