Increasing Fresh Edamame Supply Through Season Extension Techniques in Virginia.

Domestic demand of vegetable soybean or edamame (Glycine max) has increased due to its health benefits like reducing cancer risks and lowering total and bad cholesterol. Most edamame in the U.S. market relies on frozen product imported from China and Taiwan. However, the quality of edamame quickly drops in frozen storage. Fresh edamame is preferred by consumers, but local fresh edamame supply lasts only a few days every year as a result of short harvest window. The objectives of this project were to increase fresh Virginia-grown Edamame supply up to half a year by building up an off-season edamame production system; and to identify optimum edamame varieties in multiple growing seasons. Four released edamame cultivars (Gardensoy 31, Gardensoy 41, Moon Cake and Randolph) with different maturity groups were sowed in greenhouses and transplanted into high tunnels and the field for spring and early summer harvest, and were successively, directly planted in the field and high tunnels for summer and fall production. Total yield, marketable yield, and 1-bean, 2-bean and 3-bean pod yield were measured after each harvest. The harvest window was extended from July 3^rd to Oct 18^th, 75 days earlier than the harvest season without using season extension techniques. Randolph produced the most edamame among all varieties mainly because it had highest yield in October. Gardensoy 41 had better total yield than Gardensoy 31 and Moon Cake, and it produced plenty of pods in July and September. Therefore, for Virginia edamame growers, planting Gardensoy 41 for early produce and planting Randolph for late produce would make outstanding profit. The correlation of yield related traits showed that total yield was significantly, positively related to marketable yield; 1-bean, 2-bean and 3-bean pod yield were significantly, positively related to total and marketable yield; and 1-bean, 2-bean and 3-bean pod yield were significantly, positively related to each other (Table 3). Therefore, marketable yield could be used as the main yield trait in edamame breeding selection.