Soybean cultivation on the rise in Cuban westernmost province

PINAR DEL RIO, Cuba, May 11 (acn) Farmers in the municipality of Los Palacios, traditionally called Pinar del Rio´s barn, show interest in the expansion of soybean cultivation, one of the oldest of humanity, become important source for obtaining oil and vegetable protein.

As a result of research conducted on Glycine max L, its scientific name, three fairs were held in areas of the entity Los Palacios Scientific Technological Base Unit (UCTB by its Spanish acronym) on the period 2015-16.

MSc. Ariel Cruz, told ACN that 10 soybean cultivars were exposed on them, six of Vietnamese origin, three obtained by the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences (INCA by its Spanish acronym) and a traditional one.

He added that the most selected by the growers were the DT-20 and DT-22 of Vietnamese origin, adapted to soils with poor drainage, with excessive moisture, so they very well settle in with rice lands in order to use them in crop rotation with the cereal.

This allows improving physical and chemical characteristics of the land, which are increasingly degraded with rice monoculture, Cruz noted.

At the same time we can take advantage of large tracts of fallow areas in soybean production, of great importance in animal feed by providing about 35 percent of proteins.

To this we must add the quality of having almost all essential amino acids and their use in the production of vegetable oil.

Only municipality of Pinar del Rio harvesting that line, Los Palacios has five farmers producing soybeans, who have planted about five hectares and studies show yields are rising, reporting 2.4 tons per hectare.

The use of soy in the regular diet of the population in the American tropics is very low, however, in recent years the interest in its use for that purpose registers rise, thanks to greater knowledge of its nutritional values.

According to digital pages, this plant is native to eastern China, Japan and Korea and is feed basis of many Asian populations over five thousand years ago.