Isoflavone Content in Brazilian Soybean Cultivars

Abstract

Soybean is not well accepted as a human food source in the West because of its flavor. Isoflavones have been suggested as the cause of soybean bitterness and astringency. The isoflavone content of 22 Brazilian cultivars of different maturity groups was analysed by using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The content of daidzin and genistin in the Brazilian cultivars showed a consider-able variability among cultivars of the same and different maturity groups and between consecutive years (1990 and 1991). Insect-resistant cultivar IAC-100 exhibited the highest isoflavone content in both years, while cultivar BR-36 had the lowest.