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Executive Summary
What is the report about?
This report sought to provide underpinning of the development of an Edamame (vegetable soybean) industry in Australia via a critical understanding of the ripening process in CSIRO-Bred and elite Japanese varieties of edamame, and in particular understand how changes in seed size and in the seed content of sugars vary with ripening or environment.

Who is the report targeted at?
People seeking to establish a commercial industry should find the information contained in this report useful. In particular this report establishes a baseline for the agronomics necessary to produce good quality edamame. Growers and advisors may then optimise the production environment with an understanding of the likely effect of different agronomic methods.

Background
Edamame is a flavoursome and healthy vegetable than can be fun to eat. The traditional setting for consumption is as a snack consumed with beer in a commercial establishment.

Edamame is a vegetable soybean which is harvested when the seedpods are at their largest but before any yellowing has occurred. Production of the crop in Australia has been small and beset with difficulties associated with seed supply, poorly adapted varieties and variable quality. It is therefore a relatively unexploited new vegetable crop for Australia.

Aims and Objectives
The research reported here sought to underpin the potential development of a commercial edamame industry in Australia via an improved understanding of the key determinants of quality and means to influence this quality.

Methods used
A series of experiments were conducted to establish the effect of agronomic variables such as water stress, cultivar, plant population, thinning and window of adaptation on the potential for production and likely effect on quality. In addition some field scale evaluation and consumer acceptance was tested.

Results and Key findings
The project found that the key determinants of quality in edamame are large seed size, high sugar content and bright green colour. The project showed that in well-watered plants, sugars accumulate at about the same rate as seed expansion. Seeds are largest and sugar content of seed highest in crops grown at low plant population and maintained in well watered condition. Edamame should be harvested when seed size is maximised but before any yellowing of the pods occur. An indicator that this is about to happen is that the lower leaves on the plant start to yellow. Preliminary market testing has shown that fresh beans can be held in excellent condition for several days using technology similar to that deployed for some other vegetables. The edamame can be transported to distant markets during this time.

Edamame grown during this project from the Japanese cultivar, Tanbaguro, the Taiwanese cultivar KS#1 and the Australian cultivars C784 and Bunya were acceptable to consumers in both fresh and frozen form.

The project also established the limits of potential adaptation for all four cultivars evaluated. The Asian cultivars were generally poorly adapted due to narrow planting window, uneven ripening, difficulty of seed production and susceptibility to several diseases. The cultivar C784 was discovered to be highly susceptible to Phytophthora root rot during the course of the studies, but the cultivar Bunya shows potential for commercial evaluation. Plentiful supplies of Bunya seed are available. The cultivar is broadly adapted to a wide planting window over the summer period from around Sydney, NSW north to the Atherton Tablelands in Qld. In warmer environments such as Bowen and the Burdekin region of Qld, Bunya is potentially adapted year-round. Commercial development should focus on development of grower skills in maximising quality particularly in the areas of insect control, harvest timing and post harvest handling.

Implications for relevant stakeholders.
This project has shown that good quality edamame can indeed be produced in Australia via the use of an adapted cultivar and good agronomic conditions, and harvest at optimum time. The edamame thus produced appears to meet with ready acceptance from the market.

Recommendations

1. Edamame should be gown as a vegetable crop under highly managed conditions.
2. The variety Bunya appears adequate to commence commercial development of the industry, however varieties with larger seed size and possibly also with improved sensory attributes would be desirable.
3. At harvest time, care needs to be taken to ensure that seeds are large and bright green in colour. If harvested at this stage of development, the vegetable appears robust enough to undergo freezing or transport under chilled conditions to distant markets. It also appears that there may be opportunities to develop supply relationships with specific high-end restaurants.
 

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