EDAMAME - VEGETABLE CROP OF THE FUTURE: PRODUCTION CHALLENGES AND CHEMICAL PROFILE

SUMMARY Edamame is a vegetable, immature soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) and an excellent plant-based protein source which is low in calories, high in essential amino acids, dietary fibre, phospholipids, vitamins, minerals, and many other bioactive compounds. Besides providing fresh, green and highly nutritious beans as the main product, edamame biomass can be utilized at the same time for animal feeding or as green manure. Keywords: germination and emergence; fertilization; weed management; water supply; chemical composition; sustainable agriculture INTRODUCTION Edamame soybean is a vegetable and a highly nutritious crop, so its presence in the human diet is constantly increasing. The longer the vegetation period, the more nodes and pods per plant are formed, and total fresh pod weight is increased (Zhang and Kyei-Boahen 2007). Since environmental factors are crucial for edamame production, many researchers evaluated growth of edamame in different agroecological conditions. Maintaining post-harvest seed quality becomes challenging because of high respiration rates (Nair et al. 2023). [...]storage practices such as blanching, freezing, and storing at low temperatures need to be implemented shortly after harvest.