The purpose of this study was to select some superior soybean varieties adaptable to growth in the northern parts of the Korean peninsula, and to identify the suitable growing regions of soybean in North Korea. Soybean varieties from South Korea were evaluated with the Chinese locally cultivated varieties as check varieties at two locations, Donggang City of Lianing Province, and at Longjing City of Jilin Province, 2017-2019. A total of 100 soybean varieties from South Korea and three Chinese check varieties were evaluated based on ecological adaptability, and a total of 18 varieties including ‘Suwon 212’ from the Longjing test site as well as a total of 59 genotypes the Donggang test site, were selected for further evaluation in the first experiment year. A total of 12 promising soybean varieties at Longjing and 15 varieties at Donggang that were selected from the previous year, were evaluated at the same sites for ecological adaptability as well as productivity in the second experiment year. A total of nine promising soybean varieties were selected at the test sites, respectively. The nine varieties at each site that were selected from the previous year for the production capacity including flowering date, degree of lodging, yield potential, and disease resistance, were reviewed to evaluate at both sites in the last experiment year. Finally, a total of eight superior varieties, including four at the Longjing site (‘Seonnogkong’, ‘Dajinputkong’, ‘Danweonkong’ and ‘Sinpaldalkong 2’) and the other four at the Donggang site (‘Iksan 13’, ‘Seonnogkong’, ‘Gangil’ and ‘Yeonpung’) were selected. The yield potential of four outstanding soybean varieties selected at the Longjin site was 1.5-2.6t/ha, and that of the other four at the Donggang site was 2.1-2.7t/ha.

This study was carried out to evaluate the seed quality of soybeans produced from upland and drained-paddy fields. Soybeans from drained-paddy field showed significantly higher in the 100 seeds weight and greater in the size of seed length than those from upland fields. However, there are no significant differences in seed width and thickness between upland and paddy fields. In case of Hunter's color value, the lightness (L) was significantly higher in the upland soybeans, but the a (redness) and b (yellowness) values were higher in the drained-paddy field soybeans. Seed appearance of drained-paddy field was poor than that of upland field. Soybeans produced from the drained-paddy field showed higher protein content, whereas, lipid and ash contents were higher in the upland field. Soybeans from upland field had lower contents of total amino acids compared to drained-paddy fields. No statistical differences were found in palmitic, linoleic, and linolenic, but stearic, oleic, saturated fatty acids (SFA), and unsaturated fatty acids (USFA) showed significant differences between soybean seeds from upland and drained-paddy fields. Genistein content was higher in the drained-paddy fields, while daidzein and glycitein contents were higher in the upland fields. This result suggested that the soil condition of drained-paddy field is more favorable to synthesis genistein than daidzein and glycitein.

This study was carried out to know the variation of soybean seed proteins, 11S and 7S globulins, and their amino acid compositions among different colored soybean varieties, 'Danbaegkong' (yellow), 'Pureunkong' (green) 'Jinyulkong' (brown), and 'Geoumjeongkong l' (black). Soybean seed proteins showed a wide range in molecular size, but the electrophoresis patterns of total seed protein subunits showed a similarity among different colored soybean varieties. Amino acid compositions of total seed proteins were similar for all soybean varieties tested. However, soybean varieties showed low composition rates in sulfur containing amino acids. The composition rates of cysteine and methionine in the 11S globulins were higher than those of total seed proteins and 7S globulins. Glutamic acid and glycine were higher in the 11S and 7S globulins than those of total seed proteins. However, the levels of methionine and phenylalanine are high in the 11S globulins, but those of valine and lysin are slightly lower than the 7S globulins. By using HPLC, we tried to analyse the soybean seed proteins. The 11S globulin was composed of 10 major peaks whereas the 7S globulin was composed of 4 major peaks. The composition rates of 11S related proteins have a tendency to increasing during the maturing whereas those of 7S related proteins have a tendency to decreasing. Composition rates of each peaks among different colored soybean varieties suggested that soybean seed proteins are varied, although they showed similarity in the electrophoresis patterns, and understanding of this characteristics is important for the utilization of soybeans.

Extensive research has been conducted on effects of drought stress on growth and development of soybean but information is rather restricted on the limited-irrigation system by way of precaution against a long-term drought condition in the future. The experiment for limited-irrigation was conducted in transparent vinyl shelter at Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC), Taiwan in 1997. Two soybean varieties, Hwangkeum and AGS292, improved in Korea and AVRDC, respectively were used for this experiment. The relationships between normalized transpiration rate (NTR) and fraction of transpirable soil water (FTSW) in both varieties were similar that the NTR was unchanged until FTSW dropped to about 0.5 or 0.6. At FTSW less than those values, NTR declined rapidly. Days required to harvest in both varieties were significantly prolonged at IR6 treatment compared to any other treatments. Daily mean transpiration rate was significantly higher at IR5 treatment, as averaged over varieties. Similarly, water use efficiency was also high at 1R5 treatment. In both varieties, seed yield was the greatest at the IR5 treatment, as compared to any other limited-irrigation treatments, due to the increased seed number and high transpirational water use efficiency. The indices of input water and seed yield for the different limited-irrigation treatments against control indicated that Hwangkeum produced 59.6% or 60.7% of seed yield using 36.1% or 44.9% of input water, as compared to control, by irrigation at only R5 or R6 stages, respectively. The AGS292 produced 56.1% of seed yield with 35.4% of input water of control, when irrigated at R5 stage. The results of this study have elucidated that the limited irrigation at R5 stage in soybean can be minimized yield loss with such small quantity of water under the environment of long-term drought stress and the expected shortage of agricultural water in the future.

수원 작물시험장 등 전국 각도 9개 지역에서 1990 및 1991년에 걸쳐 수행된 콩 지방적응연락시험에서, 팔달콩 등 10개의 공시계통들의 평균 수량을 조사하였으며, 수량안정성을 여러가지 방법으로 분석하여 상호 비교하였다. 수량 안정성분석은 Francis와 Kannenberg의 coefficient of variability, Finlay와 Wilkinson의 regression coefficient, Eberhart와 Russell의 deviation parameter, Plaisted의 variance component, Wricke의 ecovalence등 5개 분석방법을 이용하였으며 그 결과를 요약하면 다음과 같다. 1. 분산성분 비교에 의하면, 수량에 대한 콩유전자와 지역간 상호작용 분산성분이 콩유전자 및 년차간 상호작용 분산성분보다 약 7배 높아서, 정확한 수량안정도 평가를 위해서는 여러 해 걸쳐서 콩계통을 평가하기보다는 더 많은 지역에서 평가되어야 할 것으로 보였다. 2. 2년차 9개지역에서 수원 14005('92년 태광콩으로 장려품종 지정)가 평균수량이 높았으며, 5개 안정성 분석결과 수량안정도도 높았다. 3. 안정도계수 종류들 간의 rank correlation 분석결과, Eberhart와 Russell, Plaisted, 그리고 Wricke의 방법들 간의 고도의 유의적인 상관관계가 있었으나, Francis와 Finlay 방법은 다른 분석방법들과는 상관관계가 인정되지 않았다.