Canadian Food-Grade Soybean Database FAQ

What is the Canadian Food-Grade Soybean Database?

The Canadian Food-Grade Database was initiated in 2005 to address requests for quantitative and objective information about Canadian soybeans grown for soy food applications.

The samples are obtained from the Ontario Soybean Variety (OSV) Trials which are conducted by the Ontario Soybean And Canola Committee (OSACC). The OSV trials are replicated across multiple sites for each maturity group zone in the Canadian soybean production areas. The trials are operated according standardized procedures and undergo inspection. See Trial locations and descriptions.

The Canadian Food-Grade Database is the product of collaboration among provincial and national partners. The database was hosted on the Canadian International Grains Institute website from 2005 to 2011 and the Canadian Soybean Council website from 2012-2013. The database was fully integrated into the OSACC website in 2013 to provide interactive functions to the database users.

What information is included in the database?

The samples included in the database represent soybean varieties that are currently available or are expected to be available soon for commercial production. The samples include varieties used in Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and other emerging Canadian soybean production areas. Inclusion of varieties in the database is voluntary at the discretion of the variety sponsors. The sponsors/seed distributors are contained in Table 1 (Variety Descriptions) and in the list of distributors.

Varieties are reported in the maturity group test in which they were entered. Some varieties can be grown in more than one maturity group zone and appear in more than one table. The maturity group areas are provided in a map. The varieties entered in the OSV trials vary from year-to-year and therefore may not appear each year of the database. Missing values occur in the tables if a samples was not available for the all of the analyses.

How is the data collected?

Following harvest, the yield, seed size, oil and protein are determined by the OSACC trial coordinators for each site. Subsamples are sent for analysis of sucrose, oligosaccharides, total fermentable carbohydrates, total isoflavones, genistein and daidzein by AAFC, Harrow. For All composition analyses are conducted by NIR spectroscopy.

How do I use the database?

Before using the database please read the copyright information.

There are three basic ways to use the database.

1. To see the complete report for a particular year, download the PDF version. These reports have complete data for all parameters and show the average and range. They are optimized for printing on legal-sized paper.
   
   
2. To search the database based on several criteria, use the Search the database option.
   
   
   
   • First select the crop year(s) of interest. You can select to output the data for each year individually, or averaged over several years.
   
   
   • Next, select the growing area(s) of interest. There is a link to a map of Ontario showing the growing areas. By default, all are selected.
   
   
   • Finally, select any seed traits you are interested in. For example, you may want to narrow the search to varieties with large seed size and high protein, or varieties with a yellow hilum and high sugars.
     
   
   Note: If you make the search criteria too narrow, the list of varieties that match will be small and in extreme cases there will be no varieties that match.
   
   Once the results are shown, you can sort the table by clicking on the column headings.
   
   The average data for each seed characteristic is shown on the output table. To see the range for any value, mouse over the average value.
   
   
3. To compare specific varieties to each other, scroll down to the Search by variety option. Select up to 20 different varieties and click the Show Results button. All the data available for the selected varieties will be shown. You can sort and show the data ranges as explained in the previous option.