tailieunhanh - Cultivation of soya and other legumes - Part 3

5 Cultivating soya This chapter covers the practical details of growing soya. These are most important for those who have already decided to grow soya. If you have not yet made the decision, the information in Chapter 3 is very important. | 5 Cultivating soya This chapter covers the practical details of growing soya. These are most important for those who have already decided to grow soya. If you have not yet made the decision the information in Chapter 3 is very important. Storage of beans and seed selection Soya beans are rich in protein which makes them very attractive to insects. They also decay quickly especially when the climate is humid. Soya therefore has to be stored carefully whether it is used for food trade or seed material. A women s group in North Ghana has done experiments to determine how effective local storage methods are. They used different sorts of beans and they stored them using different methods. They assessed the colour and taste of the beans as well as noting how much insect damage holes there was. The conclusion was that beans stored in ash kept best. Storing seeds in ash of the neem tree and treating seeds with a neem tree solution had good results. If a farmer has plastic bags that can be hermetically sealed made airtight these can be used to store soya beans at least those to be used as seed material . The beans must be well dried less than 11 water in the bean and the plastic bags must be carefully sealed. Experiments in Senegal and Cameroon show that seed stored under these conditions for nine months retains 90 of its germination capacity. In Guyana seeds can only be stored for six months before they lose their germination capacity. In all three countries seeds that are kept in cold storage places maintain 90 of their germination capacity for nine months. Cultivating soya 27 In the highlands of Madagascar it is not necessary to store seed in cool houses because the temperatures are low enough anyway. Plas tic bags are also not necessary for storing the seed. We conclude that if you want to ensure 90 germination capacity then it is a good idea to keep seed in cool storage places. Whether farmers use their own seeds for planting material or whether they regularly buy