Origin, Maturity Group and Seed Coat Color Influence Carotenoid and Chlorophyll Concentrations in Soybean Seeds

Abstract

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) seeds are abundant in physiologically active metabolites, including carotenoids and chlorophylls, and are used as an affordable source of functional foods that promote and maintain human health. The distribution and variation of soybean seed metabolites are influenced by plant genetic characteristics and environmental factors. Here, we investigated the effects of germplasm origin, genotype, seed coat color and maturity group (MG) on the concentration variation of carotenoid and chlorophyll components in 408 soybean germplasm accessions collected from China, Japan, the USA and Russia. The results showed that genotype, germplasm origin, seed color, and MG were significant variation sources of carotenoid and chlorophyll contents in soybean seeds. The total carotenoids showed about a 25-fold variation among the soybean germplasms, with an overall mean of 12.04 µg g−1. Russian soybeans yielded 1.3-fold higher total carotenoids compared with Chinese and Japanese soybeans. Similarly, the total chlorophylls were substantially increased in Russian soybeans compared to the others. Soybeans with black seed coat color contained abundant concentrations of carotenoids, with mainly lutein (19.98 µg g−1), β-carotene (0.64 µg g−1) and total carotenoids (21.04 µg g−1). Concentrations of lutein, total carotenoids and chlorophylls generally decreased in late MG soybeans. Overall, our results demonstrate that soybean is an excellent dietary source of carotenoids, which strongly depend on genetic factors, germplasm origin, MG and seed coat color. Thus, this study suggests that soybean breeders should consider these factors along with environmental factors in developing carotenoid-rich cultivars and related functional food resources.

Revealing seed color variation and their possible association with yield and quality traits in a diversity panel of flax (Linum Usitatissimum L.)

“…Seed color is an important quality determinant for consumers' acceptability (Tomaszewska-Gras et al, 2021); therefore, calculations of three parameters describing color were performed. Considerable variability was also observed among the flax genotypes for seed color parameters, as shown by the range of variation for L*, a*, and b* parameters originating from the variation in the amount of seed pigments (García-Fernández et al, 2021;Gebregziabher et al, 2022). Thus, selection for luminosity and chromaticity (a* and b*) values in flax seeds will be effective, meeting the demand of a diverse market niche.…”

“…Geographical distribution of flax genotypes indicated the existence of wide variability for seed color parameters, yield and quality traits, attributed to genetic factors and growing conditions such as humidity, temperature, rainfall, and shorter exposure to sunlight (Sadohara et al, 2021;Gebregziabher et al, 2022). Significant differences among continents for seed color parameters indicated that their grown seeds had different colors.…”

A Comprehensive Quality Analysis of Different Colors of Medicinal and Edible Honeysuckle

“…Chlorophyll, a fat-soluble pigment found in all photosynthetic organisms, mainly includes chlorophyll a (chl a ) and chlorophyll b (chl b ) [ 29 ]. The determination of chl a and chl b of honeysuckle was carried out as described in references with minor modifications [ 30 , 31 ].…”

Potential Role of Dietary Phenolic Compounds in the Prevention and Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis: Current Reports

“…As expected, their benefits are closely linked to their chemical structure and quantities. Indeed, several studies already reported that, in most cases, an increment in phenolics enhances biological potential [65,75,79,[172][173][174][175][176][177]. Therefore, it is not surprising that their interest is increasing worldwide, especially in preventing and/or attenuating several diseases, especially those without medical cures, like AR (Figure 3).…”