New Soybean Variety Targets Japanese Market

Matt Hopkins Posted by Matt Hopkins|16 December 2008

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have released a new small-seeded soybean variety that was developed specifically for the Japanese market. Soybean N8101 – developed by geneticist Thomas Carter and agronomist Joseph Burton at the ARS Soybean and Nitrogen Fixation Research Unit in Raleigh, North Carolina, US – is currently the smallest soybean variety ever released in the United States.

The soybean has physical traits appealing for commercial use, such as a yellow seed with shiny luster and clear hilum, the scar formed on the seed when it detaches from the plant. N8101 will be harvested and sent to Japan to test the market for its use in the popular breakfast food natto. Japanese natto manufacturers prefer soybeans that swell to a greater extent because they generally result in a softer final product, a requirement N8101 meets.

Seed of this release will be deposited in the National Plant Germplasm System, where it will be available for research purposes, including development and commercialization of new cultivars.