Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] oil is an important commercial source of tocopherol (Vitamin E). Some genetic modifications of the fatty ester composition of soybean oil have resulted in changes in the content of total tocopherol and its components. The objective of this study was to compare the tocopherol content of 20 soybean lines with mid-oleate and 1%-linolenate (MO) content to 20 lines with conventional-oleate and 1%-linolenate (CO) content from each of three segregating populations. The 60 lines were evaluated in three Iowa environments during 2007. The average total tocopherol content in oil across populations was 1789.1 mg kg-1 for the MO type and 1781.7 mg kg-1 for the CO type. Although the average total tocopherol was similar between the two types, the average proportion of α-tocopherol was 27.6 mg kg-1 greater, γ-tocopherol was 76.5 mg kg-1 less, and δ-tocopherol was 56.2 mg kg-1 greater for the MO than the CO type. There was significant variation among MO lines for total tocopherol and the three components, which indicated that it should be possible to develop cultivars with tocopherol contents that are best suited to the needs of the end-user.
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