Lipoxygenase and Tocopherol Profiling of Soybean Genotypes Exposed to Electron Beam Irradiation

Electron beam (EB)-irradiation is increasingly being preferred to radioactive-based gamma irradiation in overcoming the constraints that affect the quality of food material. Soybean seeds of 3 soybean genotypes were exposed to 4 doses viz. 4.8, 9.2, 15.3 and 21.2 kGy of EB-irradiation and assessed for the changes in the contents of lipoxygenase isozymes and tocopherol isomers. Densitometry of protein profile revealed decreasing intensity of lipoxygenase with increasing EB dose. All the 3 lipoxygenase isozymes viz. lipoxygenase-1, -2 and -3 registered significant (P < 0.05) increasing reduction with increasing dose; though genotypic variation was noted for the magnitude of reduction at the same dose. Concomitantly, all the 3 genotypes exhibited significant (P < 0.05) decline in α-, γ- and δ-isomers of tocopherol. δ-Tocopherol was the most sensitive to EB-irradiation. EB dose, which caused minimum and maximum decline in total tocopherol content, was genotype-dependent. Decline in vitamin E activity corresponding to the dose, which induced maximum reduction for total lipoxygenase also varied in 3 genotypes. The study showed the usefulness of EB for significant inactivation of off-flavor generating lipoxygenases in soybean, with a non-significant effect on oil content and varied retention of tocopherol isomers and vitamin E activity depending upon genotype.