Variations in Seed Oil and Fatty Acid Content of Different Soybean Genotypes and its Coorelation with Seed Oil

The research was conducted at the agronomy block of the National Cattle Research Program, Rampur Chitwan, during the soybean growing season (July-November), 2015. The objective of this study was to analyze oil and fatty acid content of soybean seed and also find out the composition of oil and fatty acids and its correlation among the genotypes. Layout of the field was carried out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) within three replications and comprised of 15 exotic genotypes including check. Analysis of oil content was done in Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, Kathmandu is using a Soxhlet apparatus and the fatty acid content was analyzed in the College of Agriculture and Live Sciences, Kyungpook National University, South Korea uses gas chromatography. The highest average oil content was found in TGX1990-110FN (17.95%) followed by TGX1989-68FN (17.41%) and TGX1990-106FN (17.31%). A highly significant difference was found among fifteen soybean genotypes in terms of five fatty acids. Highly negative correlation was found between the oleic acid and linoleic acid (-0.9821**); linolenic acid (0.6591**). Soybean normally contains 15% saturated fatty acid, 23% monounsaturated fatty acids and 62% polyunsaturated fatty acid. Desirable content of fatty acid in soybean oil by industries is dependent upon its use. High monounsaturated fatty acid, high saturated fatty acid and high polyunsaturated fatty acid or desirable for frying, baking and industrial purposes, respectively. But in this experiment, almost all the genotypes showed the fatty acid content suitable for normal vegetable oil.