Influence of gamma rays and ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS) on the levels of phytic acid, raffinose family oligosaccharides and antioxidants in soybean seeds of different genotypes

Soybean seeds accumulate raffinosaccharides (RFOs) and phytic acid throughout development and maturation. Efforts are being made to produce soybean varieties containing lower phytic acid and raffinose but higher antioxidant contents. Thus, in the present study, influence of irradiation (0.20–0.25 kGy) and EMS (0.1 %) was studied on the phytic acid, RFOs and antioxidant contents in 136 irradiated lines from 34 bulked mutant populations of soybean. Among these lines, four populations showed low levels of phytic acid and RFOs but high levels of antioxidants as compared to their unirradiated controls. These were selected and grown in pot house in order to eliminate the influence of growing locations with widely differing soil types on phytic acid content. The results indicated that all four mutant populations showed good seedling emergence; while two of them viz. IR-JS-101 (0.25 KGy) and IR-DS-122 (0.20 KGy) harbouring the desired combination of phytic acid, RFOs and antioxidant could thus be more beneficial for both food and also for feed purpose.