In this work, nicotianamine content in 142 plant parts of 79 edible plants species was quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography, with pre-column derivatization using 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl chloride. The change in nicotianamine content in vegetables during cold storage and cooking process was also investigated. Of the 142 plant part studied, nicotianamine was detected in 138 parts. The highest amount of nicotianamine was found in soybean seeds, 289.7μg g－1 FW, followed by snow pea seeds, 232.1μg g－1 FW. In a comparison of the nicotianamine content present in different parts of the bean plant belonging to Fabaceae family, the seedpod was found to contain a significantly lesser amount than the seed part. Two squashes, of the Cucumis family, the Kabocha squash seed and Butternut squash seed were also rich in nicotianamine content, which was found to be 149.6μg g－1 FW and 137.7μg g－1 FW, respectively. Furthermore, seeds of the White Sapote fruit had a relatively high nicotianamine content of 52.58μg g－1 FW. In the other four samples of this fruit, either nicotianamine was present in a significantly lesser amount or it could not be detected. The residual percentage of nicotianamine after a period of one week in cold storage was almost the same when compared to fresh samples. A comparison of four cooking methods of three vegetables revealed that the residual nicotianamine content dramatically decreased by 24.3% in beans during the boiling process, in contrast to raw kidney beans. On the other hand, the residual nicotianamine content was nearly the same or changed very little (103.2%－86.7%) in all tested samples after microwaving.
