Abstract:

To optimize the germination technology of soybean, the effects of three technological conditions, namely temperature, humidity and germination time on isoflavone content, soybean odor evaluation and sprout morphology evaluation were addressed by single-factor and orthogonal array design methods. Also, exploration of the change in chemical composition of soybean during germination was carried out. The optimum values of the above three conditions were found to be: temperature 24 ℃, humidity 85% and germination time 96 h. Under the optimized conditions, soybean sprouts having an isoflavone content of 3.616 mg/g and no soybean odor were obtained. During 120-hour germination, the contents of fat, protein, sugars and ash declined, but those of amino nitrogen and isoflavone markedly ascended, and those of free iron, calcium and magnesium slightly increased. Moreover, soybean odor always tended to decrease over the whole germination period.

Key words: soybean, germination, isoflavones, soybean odor