Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU) has developed a high-yielding variety named BU Soybean-5. It tolerates waterlogging, has a short life cycle and has the largest seeds of any soybean variety in the country.

The university's Department of Agronomy has researched soybean since 2006 using about 200 germplasm lines collected from the World Vegetable Center (AVRDC) in Taiwan, the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and Noakhali-Lakshmipur. Six PhD and 18 MS students have earned degrees solving soybean production problems.

In coastal areas, cyclones often bring sudden heavy rain just as soybean begins to mature, waterlogging fields and causing heavy losses, so coastal farmers have long wanted a short-duration, waterlogging-tolerant variety.

Team leader Professor Dr Abdul Karim said germplasm BD2334 from AVRDC combined high yield with tolerance of seven days of waterlogging. It was tested with farmers in Rabi and Kharif seasons in several upazilas of Noakhali and Lakshmipur, then registered with the Ministry of Agriculture's seed wing as BU Soybean-5. It yielded 3.5 tonnes per hectare in different upazilas. The research was funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the university's research department, with field support from Solidaridad Network Asia and local Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) officials.

Other varieties take 100 to 110 days, while BU Soybean-5 matures in 75 to 85 days depending on season, escaping sudden waterlogging from heavy rain at pod maturity. A thousand seeds weigh 285 grams, more than any existing variety. It contains 38 per cent protein and 20 per cent oil. In Bangladesh soybean is still used mainly for animal and fish feed.

The department earlier released BU Soybean-1 (2014), a short, early, high-yielding variety; BU Soybean-2 (2020), drought-tolerant; and BU Soybean-3 and 4 (2023), salt-tolerant. At a meeting with Solidaridad and DAE, it was reported that BSMRAU's stress-tolerant soybeans are grown on about 10,000 hectares and are in demand as feed ingredients.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.