Screening and breeding soybeans for isoflavone content and composition

摘要

In order to certify isoflavone content and composition in dietary supplements or soyfoods, their control in soybean seed and/or germ is needed. Experiments conducted in France and in the USA show that water supply and its interaction with low temperatures enhance isoflavone contents. As far as genotype is responsible of a wide range of variations, isoflavone content and composition in germ or seed could be predicted by crop management, combined with approriate choice of cultivars within a given location. The observed high heritabilities suggest that isoflavone composition is controlled by a few number of major genes, allowing soybean genetic improvement for both isoflavone content and composition.