Abstract
Plant seed oils, including soybean seed oil, represent the major source of naturally derived tocopherols, the antioxidant molecules that act as free radical quenchers preventing lipid peroxidation in biological systems and vegetable oil products. All four isomers of tocopherols, i.e. α, β, γ, δ tocopherols that exist in nature are found in soybean seeds. The biological activity and the contribution of these isomers in improving the oxidative stability of vegetable oil are in reverse order. Because of the nutritive value and the importance for oil stability, enhancement of tocopherol content, through breeding programs, in soybean seeds has become a new and an important objective. Genotypic variability, which is the basis of every breeding program, is scarcely reported for tocopherol content and profile in soybean seeds. In the present investigation, the tocopherol content and profile in seed samples of 66 genotypes of Indian soybean were determined. The ratios observed between the lowest and the highest values for α, β, γ, δ, total tocopherol content were 1:13.6, 1:10.4, 1:7.5, 1:9.1, 1:7.9, respectively. The mean contents for α, β, γ, δ and total tocopherols were 269, 40, 855, 241 and 1,405 μg/g of oil, respectively. Total tocopherol content was the highest in ‘Co Soya2’ followed by ‘Ankur’. Concentration of α-tocopherol was the highest (27%) in ‘Ankur’ followed by ‘MACS124’ (26%) whereas gamma tocopherol concentration was the highest (69%) in ‘VLS1’ and ‘PK327’ followed by ‘MACS13’ (67%). In view of the fact that levels of unsaturated fatty acids, apart from tocopherols, also determine the oxidative stability of vegetable oils, the relationship of four isomers of tocopherols with each other as well as with different unsaturated fatty acids and oil content was also investigated in the present study. All the four isomers of tocopherols exhibited highly significant correlations with each other (p < 0.001) whereas γ-tocopherol and total tocopherol content showed a significant relationship with linoleic acid (p < 0.05).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Kamal-Eldin A, Appelqvist LA (1996) The chemistry and antioxidant properties of tocopherol and tocotrienols. Lipids 31:671–701
Traber MG, Sies H (1996) Vitamin E in humans: demand and delivery. Ann Rev Nutr 16:321–347
Buring JE, Hennekens CH (1997) Antioxidant vitamins and cardiovascular disease. Nutr Rev 55:S53–S60
Bramley PM, Elmadfa I, Kafatos A, Kelly FJ, Manios Y, Roxborough HE, Schuch W, Sheehy PJA, Wagner KH (2000) Vitamin E. J Sci Food Agric 80:913–938
Taylor P, Barnes P (1981) Analysis of vitamin E in edible oils by high performance liquid chromatography. Chem Ind (Oct17):722–726
Liu K (1997) Soybeans: chemistry, technology and utilization. Chapman and Hall, New York, p 78
Wu SM, Wu MC, Zhang QZ (2003) Changes of tocopherols during refining process in rapeseed oil. Acta Nutrimenta Sinica 25:418–420
McCord KL, Fehr WR, Wang T, Welke GA, Cianzio SR, Schnebly SR (2004) Tocopherol content of soybean lines with reduced linolenate content. Crop Sci 44:772–776
Panizzi MC, Erhan SZ (2004) Tocopherol composition in Brazilian soybean cultivars. Annual meeting and expo of the American oil Chemists Society p 80
Fatemi SH, Hammond EG (1980) Analysis of oleate, linoleate and linolenate hydroperoxides in oxidized ester mixtures. Lipids 15:379–385
Dolde DC, Vlahakis C, Broke JH (1999) Tocopherols in breeding lines and effects of planting location, fatty acid composition and temperature. J Am Oil Chem Soc 76:349–355
Almonor GO, Fenner GP, Wilson RF (1998) Temperature effect on tocopherol composition in soybean with genetically improved oil quality. J Am Oil Chem Soc 75:591–596
Luddy FE, Barford RA, Herb SE, Magidman P (1968) A rapid and quantitative procedure for the preparation of methyl esters of butter oil and other fats. J Am Oil Chem Soc 15:549–552
Sheppard AJ, Pennington JA, Weihrauch JL (1993) Analysis and distribution of Vitamin E in health and disease. In: Packer L, Uchs J (eds) Marcel Dekker, NewYork, pp 9–31
Brtiz SJ, Kremer DF (2002) Warm temperatures or drought during seed maturation increase alpha tocopherol in seeds of soybean. J Agric Food Chem 50:6058–6063
Velasco L, Fernandez JM, Garcia RR, Dominguez J (2002) Genetic and environmental variation for tocopherol content and composition in sunflower commercial hybrids. J Agric Sci 139(4):425–429
Rocheford TR, Wong JC, Egesel CO, Lambert RJ (2002) Enhancement of vitamin E levels in corn J. Am Coll Nutr 21:191S–198S
Goffman FD, Bohme T (2001) Relationship between fatty acid profile and vitamin E content in Maize hybrids (Zea mays) 49(10):4990–4994
Marvede V, Schierholt A, Mallers C, Becker HC (2004) Genotype × environment interaction and habitability of tocopherol contents in canola. Crop Sci 44:728–731
Kriese U, Schuman E, Weber WE, Beyer M, Bruhl L, Matthaus B (2004) Oil content, tocopherol composition and fatty acid patterns of the seeds of 51 Cannabis sativa L genotype. Euphytica 137:339–351
Shintani D, DellaPenna D (1998) Elevating the vitamin E content of plants through metabolic engineering. Science 282:2098–2100
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Rani, A., Kumar, V., Verma, S.K. et al. Tocopherol Content and Profile of Soybean: Genotypic Variability and Correlation Studies. J Amer Oil Chem Soc 84, 377–383 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-007-1040-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-007-1040-x