The objective of this study was to determine the fatty acid composition of newly developed tissues of germinated soybean seeds. Five soybean accessions with varied fatty acid composition were allowed to germinate in sand under greenhouse conditions. Seedlings were picked up after 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 days of germination and freeze dried. The fatty acid composition of the newly developed tissues was analyzed by gas chromatography. Significant variation in fatty acid composition was observed between accessions, days of germination, and variety × day of germination in whole and the cotyledons. In the case of newly developed five tissues, significant variation in fatty acid composition were observed between days of germination except oleic acid for root, hypocotyl and epicotyl stem and except stearic acid for hypocotyl and unifoliate leaves while all the parameters were significantly different for accession. Significant interactions of accession and days of germination were observed for palmitic, linoleic and linolenic acid in all tissues; only for oleic acid in hypocotyl, epicotyl and unifoliate leaves; and only for stearic acid in root, hypocotyl, epicotyl and unifoliate leaves. During germination, the fatty acid composition of newly developed tissues changed dramatically but whole seedlings and cotyledons changed slightly. These tissues contained five major fatty acids as found in original seeds, but compositions were totally different from that of the seed: higher in palmitic, stearic and linolenic acid and lower in oleic and linoleic acid. New tissues conserved their fatty acid compositions regardless of genotypic variation in the original seeds.

Oil and fatty acid compositions of 1,429 germplasms including 1,121 cultivated soybeans for sprout production and 308wild soybeans were analyzed by the NIRS (Near Infrared Reflectance Spectrophotometer) method at Yeongnam AgriculturalResearch Institute, M