Present Status and Future Perspectives of Glycine andVigna in Thailand
Peerasak Srinives and Prakit Somta
Department of Agronomy , Kasetsart University
Kamphaeng Saen, Nakhon Pathom 73140, Thailand.
Corresponding author: Peerasak Srinives. Tel/Fax: +66-34281267, Email: agrpss@yahoo.com

Abstract

Thailand has no wild Glycine but a number of wild species in the genus Vigna Sub-genus
Ceratotropis . Soybean (G. max ), mungbean (V. radiata ), black gram (V. mungo ) and rice bean
(V. umbellata ) are the main Glycine and Vigna crops in Thailand. They are a major componentof cropping systems in Thailand and are grown after rice or other field crops. Although the area
planted to these crops were reduced by almost 3 fold during the past 15-20 years, the crops are still
considered economically and socially important. Thailand imports soybean seed, cake and meal ofover 3 Mt annually but exports 20,000 t of vegetable soybean pods. There is a possibility to boost
soybean production in Myanmar using Thai cultivars/breeding lines. The surplus product, if any, canbe exported to many Asian countries. Some 15 soybean cultivars have been released so far by Chiang
Mai Field Crops Research Center (CMFCRC), Khon Kaen University and Kasetsart University (KU)
but currently “Chiang Mai 60” from CMFCRC (released in 1987) is still dominating the growing
areas. Breeding soybean in Thailand has been based mainly on conventional methods. Locatingof rust resistance gene and genes conferring different levels of fatty acids by KU should open thepossibility of using marker-assisted selection (MAS) to improve this crop.
Thailand used to be the world’s largest exporter of Vigna during the 1960s to 1990s, butcurrently lost its position to China, Myanmar and Vietnam. For mungbean, the most popular cultivars
grown by farmers are “Kamphaeng Saen 1”, “Kamphaeng Saen 2”, “Chai Nat 36” and “Chai Nat 72”.
These cultivars are still susceptible to Cercospora leaf spot, powdery mildew and mungbean yellow
mosaic virus diseases. The genes controlling resistance to these diseases are being tagged by SSR
markers, with the hope of using them in MAS in the future. KU breeders are also working on hybrid
mungbean to explore the possibility of breaking the yield barrier of the currently used pure line
cultivars. For black gram, Chai Nat Field Crop Research Center is the only institution breeding black
gram in Thailand. The recently released cultivar “Chai Nat 80” was found to out yield the old cultivar“Phitsanulok 2”. There has been no breeding project for rice bean, however.

Introduction

Two major genera of food legumes grown inThailand are Glycine and Vigna . Glycine max (soybean) is the only economically important Glycine
sp. in the world. In Thailand, 2 types of soybean are
cultivated, viz. grain and vegetable. Although Thailand annually imports over 3 Mt of soybean grain,meal and cake for the oil and feed industry. The area
grown to grain soybean has been declining from over
500,000 ha to less than 150,000 ha per annum during
the past 15-20 years. The area planted to vegetablesoybean is rather stable at around 15,000 ha for both
domestic consumption and export. Among the Vigna
spp., the major one is mungbean (V. radiata ) which
occupied the annual planted area of some 500,000 ha
during 1990s. The crop is currently sown to 200,000
ha per annum and decreasing. The main reasonsfor the reduction in food legume production are theexpansion of residential areas and the promotion ofcompetitive crops, especially sugarcane, corn andcassava. The other major Vigna spp. grown in Thai-

land are black gram (V. mungo ) and rice bean (V.
umbellata ) (http://ssnet.doae.go.th, 2009).

Production of soybean in Thailand

Both grain and vegetable soybeans are grown
mainly in the northern and northeastern parts ofThailand. The major production provinces are Chiang Mai, Phrae, Chaiyaphum, Loei and Mae Hong
Son. Grain soybean is grown all year-round which
may be grouped into 3 seasons - early rainy, laterainy and dry seasons. For vegetable soybean, there
are still 2 types. The first type is grown year-round
all over the country for local consumption, using
mainly grain type cultivars and harvested at aroundR6 to R7 stages. Another type is grown during thecool season (November to March), for export to Japan when the temperature is too cold for the production in East Asian countries. The cultivars grown forexport are mainly introduced from Japan to satisfy
with the Japanese markets. Major production area of
this high value vegetable type is in the upper north-- 63 -

ern provinces where some 4-5 frozen factories arelocated (Sopa et al ., 2009).
Sarobol et al . (2008) reported that improved
soybean cultivars from Thailand were higher yielding than most, if not all, Myanmar cultivars whentested in over 30 locations in Myanmar during 20052007. This opens an opportunity to promote soybean
production in Myanmar using Thai cultivars in the
future.

Breeding of soybean in Thailanda. Breeding of field soybean
Sopa et al . (2009) wrote a comprehensive
review of soybean breeding in Thailand with the emphasis on the activities of Chiang Mai Field Crops
Research Center (CMFCRC) of the Department ofAgriculture (DOA), Ministry of Agriculture andCooperatives. CMFCRC has been assigned a mandate of breeding soybean during the past 50 years.
The first batch of 3 cultivars (SJ1, SJ2 and SJ3)
was released in 1965 from selection of a segregating population introduced from abroad. Since there
were a few local low-yielding varieties grown duringthat time, the new cultivars easily out yielded them.
When Thailand produced surplus soybean during
early 1970s, breeding objectives were set to produce
the cultivars that met with international standard.
The objectives included large seed (>14 g/100 seeds)
and determinate growth habit with less photosensitivity (Na Lampang, 1977). Later, an outbreak ofsoybean rust prompted the breeders to set additional
objectives to include resistance to major diseases,
especially soybean rust, downy mildew, anthracnose,
purple seed stain and bacterial pustule. In collaborative breeding effort with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) during 1967-1976, two more
cultivars (SJ4 and SJ5) were released to the farmers(JICA, 1977). They were very well accepted anddominated the planting areas for a full decade, until
the cultivar “Chiang Mai 60” (CM60) was released
in 1987. CM60 has been the most popular soybean
cultivar during the past 2 decades, regardless about
10 more new cultivars were released by DOA, Khon
Kaen University and Kasetsart University (KU) during the succeeding years. The main reason for the
durable use of CM60 is because it is the most rusttolerant cultivar available in Thailand (Sopa et al .,2009).
The latest grain soybean cultivar released in
Thailand is “Chiang Mai 5” (CM5) which is obtained
from a mutated progeny of irradiated CM60. CM5
reacts as reddish brown type to soybean rust rather
than as the tan type shown in CM60. It was officiallyreleased by CMFCRC in 2006 and quickly replacing
CM60 in the rust infested areas. The resistant gene/
QTL was mapped by KU around the SSR markers
Sat472, Sat288 and Sat12 on linkage group G. In
the future, this rust resistant gene will be deployed
to other soybean cultivars through marker-assisted

selection to assure that all novel soybean cultivars
will possess soybean rust resistance. Selection canbe done year-round regardless of the out break of thedisease. In addition, KU is also mapping genes controlling fatty acid content in order to manipulate thelevel in soybean oil (unpublished data).
b. Breeding of vegetable soybean
There are 2 markets for vegetable soybean in
Thailand, domestic and international. Mongkolsilp(2009) reviewed the status of vegetable soybean production in central Thailand which is the largest growing area for domestic markets. The cultivars used aremostly those of field soybean. However, there aresome specific varieties chosen by the farmers themselves. These varieties were not officially released by
the government but being kept by the farmers during
collaborative field trials. The farmers saved the seeds
for their own use based on the appearance of theplants, pods and seeds at the R6 to R7 stages when
the soybeans are harvested for vegetable purposes.
The most popular variety for domestic consumption
is “Tharn Kasem” which has no known origin. The
farmers and consumers prefer this variety owing to
its intact pods (no splitting) after boiling, golden yellow looking pods and crunchy seeds. The other but
less popular varieties are “Chiang Mai 1” bred by
CMFCRC, and AGS292 introduced from AVRDCThe World Vegetable Center. Harvesting of vegetablesoybean for domestic consumption is different fromfor exporting. The whole plants are cut, leaves andnon-marketable pods are removed, leaving stem andbranches with good pods on, ready for the markets
where merchants buy it for boiling and distributing. Boiling for domestic consumption is considered“overcooking” by Japanese’s Eda mame standard.
For export markets, the cultivars used are
introduced from Japan. They are “Kaori”, “Chamame”, No. 75, AGS292 and No. 2808. The first
2 cultivars are fragrant vegetable soybeans. The
peculiar smell of special essential oil is producedby the soybean plants in the field as well as by thepods after boiling. The aroma comes mainly fromthe chemical 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, the same chemical found in aromatic rice (Juwattanasomran et al .,2008). In 2009, Thailand is expecting to send over
20,000 t of boiled vegetable soybean pods to Japan.
The pods that do not meet with the Japanese standard are consumed locally and command higher priceas compared to vegetable soybean of the local varieties. Although the exported varieties yield over 6 t/
ha of green pods, they require high inputs, especially
fertilizers and high grade insecticides and fungicides.
Thus CMFCRC and Mae Jo University (also in Chiang Mai province) have been breeding to improvevegetable soybean for domestic consumers (Sopa etal ., 2009; Chotiyarnwong et al ., 2009).

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Production of Vigna in Thailand
Among the Vigna produced in Thailand,

mungbean, blackgram and rice bean are the mosteconomically important, occupying the annual planting area of 200,000, 100,000 and 20,000 ha, respectively (http://ssnet.doae.go.th, 2009). During 1960
to 1990, Thailand was the world’s largest exporterof these 3 crops, but later lost its position to China,
Myanmar and Vietnam (Srinives, 1996). These 3 legumes are produced mainly on the same area, i.e. thelower northern and the upper central parts of Thailand. Mungbean is cultivated in 2 major seasons, i.e.
wet and dry. Wet season mungbean is produced fromthe corn-based cropping system. Mungbean seeds
are broadcasted after corn harvesting (August to September), when the soil is still moist for germinationand there are a few rains left to assure pod and seeddevelopment. Dry season mungbean is grown in the
paddy field after rice harvesting when there is moisture left in the soil or when supplemented irrigation
is available. When most pods are mature, the wholeplants will be cut and threshed by machine. Seed
yield of mungbean is usually low especially when
there is no rain after flowering. The average yield in
Thailand is about 800 kg/ha, although low comparedto the other Vigna , considered high compared to themajor growing countries like India or Pakistan. The
yield in South Asian countries is lower due to the infestation of mungbean yellow mosaic virus (MYMV)
disease prevailing in those areas. MYMV had beenfound in Thailand during early 1970s, threatening
major mungbean areas in Thailand. The disease disappeared for about 30 years and was found again
in 2007 in the area of over 2,000 ha in Sukhothaiprovince. Staff from CNFCRC and KU are carefully
monitoring the spread of the disease.
Production of black gram in Thailand is on
the decline. During 1970s, Thailand used to growthe crop over an area of 100,000 ha. Black gram issown after field crops (late rainy season-August to
September) or rice paddy (dry season-December toJanuary) as with mungbean. The plants are left in thefield until most pods are mature, then the farmers rollthe stems together with pods and let dry in the field
for a few days before threshing by machine. Blackgram yield in Thailand is higher than mungbean withthe average of 1,000 kg/ha. Due to poor handling bysome farmers during harvesting and threshing, someseed lots are contaminated with the fungus Macrophomina phaseolina . The infected seeds are moldy
during sprouting and thus rejected by Japanese importer (Ngampongsai et al . 2004). The Japanese markets prefer clean and uniformly black seeds with 100
seed weight of over 5 g. The Indian markets haveless strict quality requirements but give lower price.
Rice bean in Thailand is produced only inthe early rainy season corn field. Rice bean seedis broadcasted a few weeks before corn harvesting(around September), utilizing the moisture in thesoil or late rains for germination. After the corn ears

are picked, the standing mature corn stalks serve aspoles to support the viny growth of rice bean plants
until reaching maturity. Since rice bean is a shortday plant, date of broadcasting is crucial for sufficient vegetative growth before flowering. The average yield of rice bean in Thailand is slightly higher
than that of black gram, i.e. 1,100 kg/ha. The seed ismainly grown for export to Japan as a supplement toazuki bean in a variety of cake.

Breeding of Vigna in Thailand
Among the three major Vigna , only mungbean

has a strong breeding program in Thailand. Two
DOA experiment stations, i.e. CNFCRC and Phitsanulok Field Crops Experiment Station (PFCES)
have mungbean as their mandate crop. AVRDC-The
world Vegetable Center (AVRDC) had a long-term
contract agreement with KU on mungbean breeding.
Yet DOA and KU also have a strong relationship thatfacilitates collaborative mungbean research between
CNFCRC and KU during the past 30 years.
There was a record of early indigenous mungbean varieties grown in Thailand dating back to1937. Not until 20 years later (1957) that black gram
was first mentioned as “Indian mungbean”, which
was probably introduced through Burma (Srinives
and Rojanaridpichet, 1986). The first mungbean variety, “U-Thong 1” was officially released by DOA
in 1976. It was an introduced accession (pedigree
not known) from the Philippines and selected basedon its high yield, large seed and more even maturity
than the local varieties. The cultivar boosted mungbean growing area in the country to over 500,000
ha per annum during 1980s to 1990s. Later, KU
released 2 cultivars “Kamphaeng Saen 1” (KPS1)and “Kamphaeng Saen 2” (KPS2) in 1986, specifically for dry and rainy season plantings, respectively.
These 2 cultivars were mass-selected from breedinglines VC1973A and VC2778A originally selected by
AVRDC in Taiwan. Both cultivars gave higher seedyield and yet earlier and more resistant to cercospora
leaf spot and powdery mildew diseases than UThong 1 (Srinives, 1994). Both breeding lines werelater released in over 10 other countries and are still
directly grown or used in breeding programs nowadays.
Vigna spp. in the sub-genus Ceratotropis areabundant in Thailand and germplasm of these species have been collected, evaluated and documented(Srinives et al ., 1996; Tomooka et al ., 1997, 2000,
2003); Ngampongsai and Sinsawat Forrer, 2007).
Wild forms of V. exilis , V. grandiflora , V. hirtella , V.
minima , V. mungo var. silvestris , V. reflexo - pilosa
var. glaba , V. tenuicaulis , V. trinervia var. trinervia
and V. umbellata and weedy or escaped V. radiata
were found in Thailand (Table 1). The collaboration
with National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences(NIAS) in Tsukuba, Japan, allowed the breeding
project of DOA and KU to have an access to theirexpert staff (Drs. D. Vaughan, N. Tomooka and A.

- 65 -Kaga), as well as some germplasm available at NIAS
genebank.
Presently, there are 4 popular mungbean cultivars recommended for the farmers in Thailand. They
are KPS1, KPS2, “Chai Nat 36” and “Chai Nat 72”.
Mungbean breeders at CNFCRC are still breeding
for powdery mildew resistance through either backcrossing to the resistant source (VC1163) or mutation
breeding. There are 2 new breeding objectives, i.e.
resistance to MYMV disease and high starch content
for noodle industry (Masari et al ., 2009). At KU, theprime breeding objectives are resistance to powdery
mildew, Cercospora leaf spot, MYMV and bruchids.
Intensive studies to map the gene(s) controlling thesedesirable traits are underway. Marker-assisted selection is necessary for these traits because powdery
mildew is a dry season disease while Cercospora leaf
spot is a wet season disease. MYMV is occasionally found in Thailand and has to be collaboratively
phenotyped at Nuclear Institute for Agriculture andBiology (NIAB), Faisalabad, Pakistan. While resistance to bruchid insects is difficult and costly, MAS
will facilitate a year-round selection scheme. KU
breeders are also exploring the possibility of producing hybrid mungbean (Sorajjapinun and Srinives,2009).
Black gram improvement is solely conductedby DOA at CNFCRC and PFCES. The first black
gram cultivar “U-Thong 2” -originally Accession
No. 68/71- was released in 1978 and became theonly recommended black gram for over a decade.
The second cultivar, “Phitsanulok 2” (PSL2) was
released from an Indian black gram line (PI 288603
or BC 48) in 1990. The objectives for black gram

improvement are high yield, uniformly large seed (>5g/100 seed) and high sprouting rate. The first black
gram cultivar improved through hybridization andselection is “Chai Nat 80” (CN80). It was selectedduring 1989 to 2003 from the segregating progeniesof the cross between the local variety “Prachin” andthe introduced “NBG5”. CN80 gave the average
yield of over 1000 kg/ha with larger seed and higher
sprouting rate (1:6 vs 1:5) than PSL2 (Masari et al .,2009). Since more sprouting factories are using
black gram for making sprouts at the moment, there
is a very small amount left for export.
There has been no rice bean breeding projectin Thailand. The farmers save their own seeds forthe next season but also made selection for large
and uniformly red seed. Rice bean is more resistant
to diseases than mungbean and back gram, thus thefarmers require no specific resistant varieties.

Conclusions

1. Soybean is the only Glycine grown in Thailand while mungbean, black gram and rice bean are
the major Vigna . Although the areas planted to thesecrops have reduced by almost 3 fold during the past
15-20 years, they are still economically and socially
important.
2. Thai farmers produce both field and vegetable soybeans. Field soybean is produced for only
5% of the national demand, while vegetable soybean
is produced either for domestic consumption or forexport to Japan using specific cultivars for the purposes.

Table 1. Wild Asian Vigna (subgenus Ceratotropis ) found in Thailand.1
SectionSpecies

Main distribution

Angulares

V. exilis

ThailandV. hirtella

North India, Southeast Asia

V. minima

Southeast Asia, New Guinea

V. reflexo-pilosa var. reflexo-pilosa

India, Mauritius, Philippines, Vietnam

V. tenuicaulis

Thailand, Myanmar

V. trinervia var. trinervia

South and Southeast Asia, Madagascar, New Guinea

V. umbellata (wild)

Northeast India, main land Southeast Asia

Ceratotropis V. glandiflora

Thailand, Cambodia

V. mungo var. silvestris

India, Myanmar, Thailand

V. radiata (weedy or escaped)-

Aconitifoliae -South Asia

1

From Tomooka et al . (2003)- 66 -

3. Thai field soybean cultivars out yielded most
local Myanmar cultivars and thus opened an opportunity to promote soybean production in Myanmar
using Thai cultivars/breeding lines.
4. Soybean breeding in Thailand is based
mainly on conventional methods. Recently, SSR
markers linking to rust resistance were identified andare promising for use in marker-assisted selection.
Markers linking to contents of some fatty acids andaroma are being located.
5. Vigna crops in Thailand are produced as asecond crop in cropping systems, i.e. after rice orfield crops, especially corn.
6. Breeding activities for Vigna during the past
several years have been devoted to mungbean andblack gram, but not for rice bean.
7. With aids from Japanese Government and
FAO, CNFCRC and KU have collected, catalogued
and maintained accessions of Vigna spp. In situ conservation and characterization were also performed.
8. KU is the leading institute in Thailand working on markers of economically important traits in
Glycine and Vigna , aiming to use in MAS.
Acknowledgement
Parts of the research by Kasetsart University
mentioned herewith was supported by Thailand Research Fund and National Science and Technology
Development Agency.
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