Cultivation

Soya beans are the most important crop worldwide for producing oil and protein. The main areas for cultivation are regions with warm/moderate to subtropical climates. The leading producing countries are the USA, Brazil, Argentina, China, India, Paraguay, Canada and Bolivia. In 2008 soya beans were produced on 98 million hectares.

Utilisation

Soya beans provide the raw material and basis for countless forms of foodstuffs, food ingredients and supplements such as:

• plant oils and fats, soya bean oil, lecithin and other emulsifiers,tocopherol (vitamin E)
• soya flour, soya grist different soya protein products, in particular for convenience foods
• traditional soya products such as tofu, soya sauce, miso and tempeh
• substitutes for meat and milk: soya milk, soya puddings, textured soya protein

Animal feed:

• in the oil mills, the fat from the soya beans is extracted and processed to oil. The remaining soya mass is used as protein-rich animal feed.
  Yearly, the EU imports 35–40 million tons of soya beans; approximately half as soya grist (coarsely ground soya beans for animal feed). Without fodder from soya beans it would not be possible to maintain Europe's production of animal foodstuffs at the present level.

Renewable primary products, energy crops:

• biofuels from soya oil (particularly in the USA)
• soya oil: basis for varnish, paints, washing and cleaning agents, lubricants, softener
• multiple uses in the production of cosmetics

Gene technology: aims of research and development

Agronomic traits

Weed control

• Tolerance to herbicides is by far the most important commercial characteristic of GM-soya beans. RoundupReady-soya beans (with resistance against herbicides containing the active ingredient glyphosate) have been grown for many years on a large scale particularly in North and South America. These areas account for about 60% of the world's soya bean production.

Resistance to pathogens

• Fungal resistance

• Nematode resistance

Resistance against pests

• Insect resistance against the larvae of different types of butterflies and moths, as well as against aphids.

Adaptation to climate and location factors

• Tolerance to drought and salinity

Quality traits

Modified composition of components:

• increased content of oleic acid (86% instead of 23%), and less linoleic acid. Because of the lower levels of linoleic acid, less trans fat, with its possible health risks, is formed when processing such strains of soya beans. These form at high temperatures, e.g. by hydrogenation of fates or by deep frying. GM-soya beans with a higher content of oleic acid are grown in the USA.

• Modified protein and amino acid content: e.g. enrichment with methionine. This amino acid is normally only found at low levels in soya beans and has to be supplement if animals are fed solely on soya fodder.

• Reduced content of the polysaccharides stachyose and raffinose: stachyose is an oligosaccharide that cannot be digested by many domestic animals and also by humans. In the small intestines, stachyose is broken down by bacteria producing gas (flatulence). Different studies have shown that feedstuffs with a lower stachylose content enhance growth in pigs and poultry.

Enrichment with health-promoting ingredients, such as:

• sterols and stanols, secondary plant compounds that have a cholesterol lowering effect

• vitamin E

Removal of harmful substances:

• allergens

Renewable primary products

• Enrichment of certain fatty acids: Soya bean oil contains various fatty acids that have different chemical and physical characteristics. Oils with different defined characteristics are needed for certain industrial processes. An aim of gene modifications of soya beans is to produce strains with an increased level of a particular fatty acid and reduced formation of some others, to provide a soya bean oil that can be used as a raw material for specific industrial products.

Production of pharmaceutically active substances

• Molecular pharming: utilisation of gene-modified soya beans as a system for producing active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Field trials with GM soya beans

Utilisation of GM soya beans