In the present work, six soybean cultivars commonly grown in Brazil (IAS-5, IGUAÇU, DAVIS, BR-16, IAS-4 and EMBRAPA-4) were physically and technologically evaluated, viith the aim of identifying the most adequate one for human consumption. The following determinations were carried out: grain apparent density and volume, weight of one hundred seeds, percentage of hull, cotyledon and germ, seed coat and hilum colour, soaking time, water absorption and finally, cooking time. The apparent density varied from 1.1592 to 1.1992 g/cm³ and the grain volume from 0.1262 to 0.1711 cm³, the weight of one hundred seeds from 15.31 to 19.76 ghull, germ and cotyledon percentages from 6.94 to 8.40%,2.29 to 3.05% and 88.77 to 90.77%, respectively. For the conditions used, it was observed that the seed coat and the hilum colours were very similar for all six cultivars. The minimum soaking time varied from 6 to 9 hours and the maximum soaking time varied from 12 to 15 hours. The water absorption at the minimum soaking time varied from 108.05 to 124.60 g H2O/100 g and the water absorption at the maximum soaking time varied from 125.67 to 132.54 g H2O/100 g. The cooking time varied from 155 to 219 minutes.
Soybean; physical characteristics; technological characteristics
