Abstract
Soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) is one of the most important crops in the world. Its major content of vegetable oil made it widely used for human consumption and several food industries. To investigate the variation in seed fatty acid composition of soybeans from different origins, a set of 633 soybean accessions originated from four diverse germplasm collections—including China, United States of America (USA), Japan, and Russia—were grown in three locations, Beijing, Anhui, and Hainan for two years. The results showed significant differences (P < 0.001) among the four germplasm origins for all fatty acid contents investigated. Higher levels, on average, of palmitic acid (PA) and linolenic acid (LNA) were observed in Russian germplasm (12.31% and 8.15%, respectively), whereas higher levels of stearic acid (SA) and oleic acid (OA) were observed in Chinese germplasm (3.95% and 21.95%, respectively). The highest level of linoleic acid (LA) was noticed in the USA germplasm accessions (56.34%). The largest variation in fatty acid composition was found in LNA, while a large variation was observed between Chinese and USA germplasms for LA level. Maturity group (MG) significantly (P < 0.0001) affected all fatty acids and higher levels of PA, SA, and OA were observed in early maturing accessions, while higher levels of LA and LNA were observed in late maturing accessions. The trends of fatty acids concentrations with different MG in this study further provide an evidence of the importance of MG in breeding for such soybean seed components. Collectively, the unique accessions identified in this study can be used to strengthen the soybean breeding programs for meeting various human nutrition patterns around the globe.
Highlights
Accessions form United States of America (USA) and China showed significant differences in all the fatty acids and the largest difference between both origins was found in linoleic acid (LA)
Higher negative correlation observed between oleic acid (OA) and LA levels offers a valuable chance for improvement of specific oil patterns with dual purposes
This variability observed in seed fatty acid traits among four worldwide germplasm accessions can provide valuable genetic resources for soybean breeding
Summary
Merr.) is a leading important oil crop grown worldwide due to its diverse uses of oil and protein for human and livestock. Soybean oil accounts for 60.85% of the world’s oil seed production [1]; it has become the most dominant vegetable oil by far. 2017, the United States of America (USA) and Brazil together accounted for 83% of total world soybean exports [2]. China’s soybean imports from USA and Brazil accounted for 61% and 77% of Agronomy 2020, 10, 24; doi:10.3390/agronomy10010024 www.mdpi.com/journal/agronomy. Agronomy 2020, 10, 24 their soybean exports, respectively. China accounted for 65% of total world soybean trade value [2]
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