Soy is the highest protein crop. Due to its high fodder qualities, soybeans are becoming more and more widespread in many regions of our country every year.
Soybean grain contains 36-48% complete protein, balanced in amino acids, 20-26 - fat and more than 20% carbohydrates. Soy is an irreplaceable forage crop. In its cake - 38-39% protein, 5.5% fat, from 10 centners of grain get 7-7.5 centners of meal, in which 40% of digestible protein, 1.4% fat. 100 kg of green mass of soybeans is equal to 21 feed. units
Botanical and biological features
Soy is an annual, highly branching leguminous plant, forms a bush up to 1.5 m high. The leaves are trifoliate, the flowers are very small, white and light purple in the leaf axils. The beans (pods) contain from 1 to 5 oval-shaped seeds of yellow, green, brown and black colors, depending on the variety.
Soy is a warm, moisture and light-loving plant, characterized by slow growth and a long growing season (100-150 days, depending on the variety and general growing conditions). She is demanding for maximum soil fertility. All this significantly limits the areas of cultivation of this culture. In Russia, soybeans are grown in the Far East and in the Krasnadar Territory.
Agrotechnics
The best predecessors for soybeans are winter crops according to fertilized manure fallow or corn according to the turnover of the layer of grasses. It should not be placed after legumes and sunflowers, as well as closer than 500-600 m from plantings of white and yellow acacia, as they are damaged by the same diseases and pests as soybeans. Nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizers are applied under soybeans (potash only on soils with a low content of this element).
Calibrated large seeds treated with nitragin are sown when the soil warms up to 10-12 ° C to a depth of 3-5 cm. Use a wide-row method with a width of 45-60 cm between rows.
Crop care should be started by rolling the soil with ring rollers. Then carry out two cultivation of the row spacing until the rows close. Sometimes soybean crops are spud. In arid regions, three to five irrigations are given during the growing season.
Harvesting of soybeans begins at full ripeness, at the moment when the beans turn brown, their seeds harden, and the leaves fall off. The seeds are then cleaned, sorted and stored in dry, well-ventilated areas.
