Isoflavone Composition within Each Structural Part of Soybean Seeds and Sprouts

Isoflavone content in various parts of six soybean cultivars and soybean sprout during germination was analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography. The parts analyzed were seed coat, cotyledon, and axis for seeds and whole sprout, root, hypocotyl, and cotyledon for sprout. Two cultivars, Aga3 which is known to have the smallest seed size and the highest isoflavone content among the Korean soybean cultivars and Pungsannamulkong which is the most widely being used as soy-sprout, were selected for sampling from 1 to 10 days after germination. At the same weight, the order of isoflavone content increased from seed coat to cotyledon to axis. The highest total isoflavone (isoflavone × dry weight) content was observed in the cotyledon and the lowest in the seed coat. The cotyledon of the Aga3 variety had the highest total isoflavone content and the lowest was measured in the Pungsannamulkong variety. The highest total isoflavone content, 10,788μg/g, was observed in whole sprouts (cotyledon+hypocotyl+root) on day 7 for Aga3. After day 7, there was a decreasing trend in isoflavone content as the germination period increased. Total isoflavone content in the cotyledon of Aga3 significantly increased after seed germination, whereas the isoflavone content in the cotyledon of Pungsannamulkong decreased. However, total isoflavone content in the root of both varieties increased while isoflavone content in the hypocotyls decreased after seed germination.