ABSTRACT
New technology has been used to improve the human food supply for many centuries. Like most important grain crops, the early history of soybean predates written history. According to Piper and Morse (1), soybeans were referred to in the earliest Chinese writings from more than 5,000 years ago, where they were called tchouan. Later Chinese writings dating from the Christian Era referred to soybeans as ta-teou or sou. It is not difficult to imagine how the later ancient Chinese name for this crop evolved to soy, its modern name. The earliest, primitive efforts to domesticate soybean were dependent on empirical selection methodologies. Near the turn of the 20th century, the discovery of genetics augmented these efforts and greatly accelerated the crop improvement process. A number of studies have attempted to quantitate the magnitude of the developments that have occurred during recent history (2-5). The application of molecular genetic approaches beginning in the last two decades of the 20th century greatly enhanced these processes and brought with it the possibility of rapidly and specifically introducing or modifying individual genes to enhance food quantity and quality. A fact often lost or ignored because of the debate that is presently raging about the pros and cons of genetically modified organisms is that modern gene technology is also a powerful tool that can be used to identify natural or induced genetic variation in soybean populations and to aid in the selection of those recombinants that have inherited beneficial variation.
