Soybean is a highly valued food crop native to East Asia that is cultivated for both its oil and protein content. Soybean oil is extracted from the seeds through expression or solvent extraction, yielding an oil that is high in unsaturated fatty acids. The oil requires refining and deodorization to remove its characteristic beany flavor and odor. Refined soybean oil is widely used for cooking, salad dressings, margarine production, and industrial applications such as paints, inks, and plastics. Soybean meal, the byproduct remaining after oil extraction, is a valuable protein source used as animal feed.

1. Sources of Oils and Fats
By
Hem Chander
Assistant Professor (Botany)
Career Point University Hamirpur (HP) 176041
hemchander78@gmail.com

2. Botanical name: Glycine max
Family: Fabacea
Sub-Family: Papilionoideae
Common names: Soyabean, Bhat, Ramkurthi
Common names: Soyabean, Bhat, Ramkurthi

3. •Soyabean is extensively cultivated and is highly valued
as food.
•It is one of the five principal and sacred crops.
•It is native to East Asia and is an important food plant
in China, Manchuria, Korea and Japan since early
times.
times.
•At present it ranks high among the leguminous crops in
its nutritional value owing to high protein content (43
percent).
•It has about 20 per cent oil. So numerous are the uses
of the Soyabean that it is called as "wonder bean".

5. •Soyabean oil is obtained from the seeds by
expression or by solvent extraction.
•The oil varies in colour from yellow to dark amber,
depending upon the process employed and the type
of seeds processed.
Extraction of oil
of seeds processed.
•It has a characteristic beany odour and flavour which
can be eliminated by refining and deodorization.

6. •The soyabean is an oleaginous seed, containing lipids,
proteins, carbohydrates and minerals.
•Black-seeded varieties are richest in proteins and have a
low percentage of oil. Yellow-seeded forms, on the
other hand, have a higher oil content but are low in
proteins.
Chemical & Nutritional Composition
proteins.
•The soyabean oil in the crude form consists of 90-95
percent fatty acid, glycerides and minor components of
phosphatides, sterols, tocopherols and pigments.

7. • The fatty acid constituents of oil are oleic acid (23-34 percent);
Iinoleic acid (52-60 percent); palmitic acid (7-14 percent); stearic
acid (2-6 percent); linolenic acid (3.0 percent) and higher
saturated acids (up to 2.0 percent).
• Soyabean contains the glycosides genistin and diadzin and
saponins. The chief form of protein is a globulin (glycinine)
accounting for nearly 80-90 percent. Besides this, another globulin
(phaseolin) and an albumen (legumelin) are also present.
(phaseolin) and an albumen (legumelin) are also present.
• The seeds are also a rich source of calcium, iron and vitamins,
especially of the B-complex type.
• Other minerals present are phosphorus, potassium, copper and
traces of sodium, magnesium, sulphur, chlorine, iodine,
manganese, zinc and aluminium.

8. Uses
• The refined oil is used for edible purposes, particularly as a cooking oil, salad
oil and for the manufacture of margarine (butter substitute).
• It is also employed for packing sardines, tuna and other kinds of fish. It finds
wider application in the manufacture of soaps, glycerine, printing inks,
greases, lubricants, resins, insecticides, disinfectants and leather dressings.
• The oil is used extensively with drying oils in the paint, varnish and enamel
• The oil is used extensively with drying oils in the paint, varnish and enamel
industries.
• Soy lecithen, an important by-product of the oil industry, is used in the food
industry as an emulsifier and also in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, paint and
plastic industries.
• Soya meal, the residue left after the extraction of oil, is a very rich protein
Feed for cattle, pigs and poultry.