Proximate composition of enhanced DGAT high oil, high protein soybeans

Abstract Developing new soybean (Glycine max) varieties with greater amounts of oil and protein enhances soybean as a renewable source of food and fuel. Soybean expressing highly active ACYL-COA: Diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) from Vernonia galamensis had oil increased by 4% with no protein reduction. To assess other seed composition changes, seeds of two independent transgenic (VgD) soybean lines and controls were obtained from two field locations in multiple years. Many analyses addressed what seed component(s) was/were reduced to compensate for the oil increase, including carbohydrate analysis (structural and nonstructural), NDF (Neutral detergent fiber), main minerals and proximate analyses. In Princeton, oil increased by 4% for the high oil lines in 2016 and 2017, with no significant reduction in protein, this was slightly different in Spindletop with an increase in oil by 1.6–1.7 %, and an increase in protein by 2.6–2.4 % in comparison to the control, as an average for both high oil lines in 2016 and 2017. Soluble carbohydrate was reduced in VgD by 1.2 % in Princeton location for the high oil lines in 2016 and 2017, whereas only VgD1-2 was significantly reduced in Spindletop in comparison to Jack on 2016 with 2%, Oil in the VgD seeds was greater than in control seeds without a decrease in seed protein in both locations, suggesting that the trait was maintained across environments.