Xu Cailong, Wu Tingting, Yuan Shan, Sun Shi, Han Tianfu, Song Wenwen, Wu Cunxiang
Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, National Soybean Industrial Technology R & D Center, Beijing 100081, China.
Foods. 2022 Dec 15;11(24):4059. doi: 10.3390/foods11244059.
Increasing soybean production and ensuring greater access to soybean protein and lipids is critical for global food security and human health. Seed size (i.e., seed weight) is one of the most important agronomic traits of soybean, which not only determines the seed yield, but can also affect the yield of protein and lipids. In China, farmers favor soybean cultivars with large seeds, which they believe produce more protein and lipids; however, experimental evidence supporting this belief is lacking. Therefore, we conducted field experiments from 2017 to 2020 at 35 locations across the Huang-Huai-Hai region (HHH) of China with 64 soybean cultivars. The seed yield, seed protein content, and seed lipids content of soybean, and their relationship with seed size were investigated. The highest seed yield (i.e., seed weight per unit area) was 2996.5 kg ha−1 in the north of HHH. However, the highest seed protein content was found in the south of HHH (42.5%) for the higher temperature, which was significantly higher than that of the middle (41.7%) and north of HHH (40.2%). In contrast, the highest seed lipids content was 20.7% in the north of HHH. Temperature, which had a path coefficient on seed yield of 0.519, can promote soybean seed yield. The correlation analysis indicated that the selection of the large seed size cultivar did not increase seed yield, and even led to a reduction of seed yield under high-yield environmental conditions. The seed protein content of soybean was not increased in the cultivars with large seed sizes. In addition, under different levels of seed lipids content (<20.30% or >20.30%), a significantly negative relationship was found between seed lipids content and hundred seed weight. Therefore, it is recommended that farmers choose to plant cultivars with smaller soybean seed sizes, so as to ensure high and stable soybean seed yield and obtain more vegetable protein and lipids per unit area.
提高大豆产量并确保人们能更多地获取大豆蛋白和脂质，对全球粮食安全和人类健康至关重要。种子大小（即种子重量）是大豆最重要的农艺性状之一，它不仅决定种子产量，还会影响蛋白质和脂质产量。在中国，农民偏爱种子大的大豆品种，他们认为这样的品种能产出更多的蛋白质和脂质；然而，缺乏支持这一观点的实验证据。因此，我们在2017年至2020年期间，在中国黄淮海地区（HHH）的35个地点，对64个大豆品种进行了田间试验。研究了大豆的种子产量、种子蛋白含量和种子脂质含量，以及它们与种子大小的关系。HHH北部的最高种子产量（即单位面积种子重量）为2996.5千克/公顷。然而，由于温度较高，HHH南部的种子蛋白含量最高（42.5%），显著高于中部（41.7%）和北部（40.2%）。相比之下，HHH北部的最高种子脂质含量为20.7%。温度对种子产量的通径系数为0.519，可促进大豆种子产量。相关性分析表明，选择大粒种子品种并不能提高种子产量，在高产环境条件下甚至会导致种子产量下降。大粒种子品种的大豆种子蛋白含量并未增加。此外，在不同水平的种子脂质含量（<20.30%或>20.30%）下，发现种子脂质含量与百粒重之间存在显著的负相关关系。因此，建议农民选择种植种子较小的大豆品种，以确保大豆种子产量高且稳定，并在单位面积上获得更多的植物蛋白和脂质。
