Origin, Maturity Group and Seed Coat Color Influence Carotenoid and Chlorophyll Concentrations in Soybean Seeds
Berhane Sibhatu Gebregziabher,
Shengrui Zhang,
Suprio Ghosh,
Abdulwahab S. Shaibu,
Muhammad Azam,
Ahmed M. Abdelghany,
Jie Qi,
Kwadwo G. Agyenim-Boateng,
Honey T. P. Htway,
Yue Feng,
Caiyou Ma,
Yecheng Li,
Jing Li,
Bin Li,
Lijuan Qiu,
Junming Sun
Affiliations
Berhane Sibhatu Gebregziabher
The National Engineering Research Center of Crop Molecular Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China
Shengrui Zhang
The National Engineering Research Center of Crop Molecular Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China
Suprio Ghosh
The National Engineering Research Center of Crop Molecular Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China
Abdulwahab S. Shaibu
The National Engineering Research Center of Crop Molecular Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China
Muhammad Azam
The National Engineering Research Center of Crop Molecular Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China
Ahmed M. Abdelghany
The National Engineering Research Center of Crop Molecular Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China
Jie Qi
The National Engineering Research Center of Crop Molecular Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China
Kwadwo G. Agyenim-Boateng
The National Engineering Research Center of Crop Molecular Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China
Honey T. P. Htway
The National Engineering Research Center of Crop Molecular Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China
Yue Feng
The National Engineering Research Center of Crop Molecular Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China
Caiyou Ma
The National Engineering Research Center of Crop Molecular Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China
Yecheng Li
The National Engineering Research Center of Crop Molecular Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China
Jing Li
The National Engineering Research Center of Crop Molecular Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China
Bin Li
MARA Key Laboratory of Soybean Biology (Beijing), Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China
Lijuan Qiu
The National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement (NFCRI)/Key Laboratory of Germplasm and Biotechnology (MARA), Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Junming Sun
The National Engineering Research Center of Crop Molecular Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100081, China
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.
