Current Status and Future Prospects of Soybean Production in Kazakhstan

Abstract

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Kazakhstan is an agrarian country with 270 million hectares utilized for animal and crop production. The foremost objective of the state agriculture programs in Kazakhstan is to achieve food security of country on the basis of competitive crop production. Demand for soybean as an oil crop and animal feed is steadily growing in Kazakhstan and hence soybeans can be a great attribute for food security in this region. Currently, over 90% of all soybean production is concentrated in one region (Almaty) because the crop is highly sensitive to photoperiod and temperature. The climatological conditions in majority of the region pose difficulties in growing the soybeans. In this review, we discussed the impact of the geographical and environmental conditions in enhancing the soybean cultivation in different parts of Kazakhstan. Additionally, we have taken an account of current status of soybean production and the barriers that may have great influence on the soybean yield. Because soybean is a short-day plant, the main role in its adaptation to areas in Kazakhstan is played by its E genes (maturity and flowering genes), the exploitation of which constitutes the primary challenge for the expansion of soybean cultivation. Besides, we have proposed candidate regions for soybean expansion, including Almaty, Zhambyl (south), East Kazakhstan and Kostanay (north). Expanding soybean production in Kazakhstan and in Central Asia could be addressed using competitive education, application of modern scientific methods and cutting-edge breeding technologies, appropriate financing, and productive strategies to develop superior cultivars with tolerance to abiotic stresses.

Identification and Pathogenicity of the Soybean Root Rot Pathogen in Arid Conditions

“…This fact of preference for the use of biocontrol agents in the regulation of pathogenic organisms in both soybeans and other crops is beyond doubt. This is especially relevant due to the extreme limitations of the studies conducted on legumes in Kazakhstan concerning the adaptation of the crop to various environmental conditions of the country against the background of its increasing export and internal demand from year to year (Makulbekova et al, 2017).…”

“…Kazakhstan is an agrarian country with huge areas of land used for growing crops and animal husbandry (Kashina et al, 2022). Soy is one of the important agronomic crops attracting increasing attention in Kazakhstan, due to its growing demand as an oilseed crop and animal feed to ensure food security (Makulbekova et al, 2017;Kuldybayev et al, 2021;Suleimenova et al, 2021). The global experience of successful crop cultivation implies seasonal crop alternation, i.e., rotation with other grain or feed crops (Rodriguez et al, 2021;Bome et al, 2022), as well as the use of cover crops (Wen et al, 2017) to avoid the emergence of fungal and bacterial diseases transmitted through the soil.…”

Genetic Diversity Analysis of Soybean Collection Using Simple Sequence Repeat Markers

“…In Kazakhstan, soybeans are grown mainly in the southeast of the country; however, the government has declared an area expansion program, on the basis of which the soybean acreage should be increased to 1 million ha in the southern, southeastern, eastern, and northern regions of the country [3,4]. In order to achieve better plant adaptation ability, seed production, and quality, it is essential to increase the diversity of local soybean cultivars by introducing genetically distant germplasm.…”

“…Note: Chr-chromosome: 1 p-value for 2021, 2 p-value for 2022,3 p-value for average data, ns-not significant; VER2-flowering time, days; R2R8-time between flowering and maturity, days; VER8-full maturity time, days; PH-plant height, cm; HLP-the height of the lowest pod, cm; NLB-number of lateral branches, pcs; NFN-number of fertile nodes, pcs; NSP-number of seeds per plant, pcs; TSW-thousand-seed weight, g; YpP-yield per plot, g.…”

A study of the genetic diversity in the world soybean collection using microsatellite markers associated with fungal disease resistance

“…Soybean is considered a highly profitable, export-oriented crop in Kazakhstan. Nowadays, over 90% of soybean production has been concentrated in Almaty Region (Makulbekova et al, 2017). In 2019, Kazakhstan harvested 229,000 metric tons of soybean.…”