Quality of US Soybean Meal Compared to the Quality of Soybean Meal from Other Origins

Quality of soybeans and soybean meals (SBM) from non-US and US origins were compared. The US SBM was more consistent with higher digestibility (by KOH solubility), lower fiber and better quality of protein (by essential amino acid levels) than SBM of other major export origins (Argentina, Brazil and India). Protein quality carried through from whole soybeans to SBM, for a given origin. While the protein content was higher for the SBM from Brazil, the percentage of total digestible amino acids was highest for the SBM from the US and China. The US SBM had the highest content (total) of five essential amino acids for both poultry and swine feed uses, which when coupled with higher digestibility, would give US meal an advantage in rations balanced on amino acids. The mean particle size for all SBM from all origins was within the desirable range specified by nutritionists. The US soybeans were lower in protein than Brazilian soybeans, but higher than Argentine soybeans. The crude protein disadvantage of US soybeans was offset by higher concentrations of the essential amino acids in the lower protein soybeans. The US soybeans were lower in oil content than soybeans from either of the South American origins. Average protein and oil contents of US soybeans were consistent with the 2003 and 2004 annual soybean quality surveys. The US SBM held an advantage in digestibility and concentration of key amino acids in all three studies.     

Measurement of oil in whole flaxseed by near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy

A near-infrared reflectance (NIR) Infralyzer 500 was calibrated for determination of oil with samples of ground and whole flaxseed grown over three years. Wavelength selection by the computer software interfaced with the Infralyzer, analytical and regression statistic data, such as standard deviation of laboratory analysis (SD_x), correlation coefficient, standard error of estimate (SEE), standard error of prediction (SEP), and the SD_x/SEP ratio showed that calibration of the instrument with whole flaxseed was equal in precision to that obtained with the ground flaxseed. Growth location or seed moisture content had no effect on oil content of whole flaxseed determined by the NIR. The whole seed calibration allowed rapid, nondestructive screening for oil in flaxseed at greatly reduced cost.     

Protein and oil patterns in U.S. and world soybean markets

The Japan Oilseed Processors Association provided yearly data showing the average protein and oil content of imported soybeans from the U.S. (No. 2 Yellow and IOM grades), Brazil, Argentina, and the People's Republic of China. Throughout the years 1972–1988, U.S. No. 2 soybeans contained about 1–1.5% less oil than Brazilian soybeans. Recently, the protein content of U.S. soybeans has also fallen behind that of Brazil. U.S. IOM soybeans, a designation based on seed size, contained about 1.5% more protein and about 0.5% less oil than U.S. No. 2 soybeans. Surveys of U.S. soybeans in the years 1986, 1987, and 1988 showed consistent state and regional differences in protein and oil content. Soybeans from northern and western soybean-growing states (North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin) contained 1.5–2% less protein and 0.2–0.5% more oil than soybeans from southern states (Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina). State and regional differences in composition represented differences of up to 25 cents per bushel in Estimated Processed Value for one set of soybean meal and oil prices.     

Oil and water analysis of sunflower seed by near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy

The applicability of NIR for oil and moisture analyses of sunflower seed was determined using a NIR spectrocomputer system. The method was compared with the wide-line NMR method for oil analysis and with the A.O.C.S. oven method for moisture analysis. The NIR was calibrated with 120 samples for oil (96 for calibration, 24 for prediction) and 63 samples for moisture (55 for calibration, 8 for prediction). Twenty-two sunflower seed samples were analyzed for oil and moisture by NIR and by methods used by industry. The oil contents of the samples by NMR and NIR were not significantly different. The overall mean oil contents and mean of the standard deviations for the samples were: NMR, 44.2%±0.35% and NIR, 44.34%±0.74%. A significant difference was found between the moisture values obtained by the oven-drying method and NIR. The average standard deviation for moisture by NIR was 0.57% compared with 0.07% for the oven-drying method. The variability of the oil content in one of the commercial seed samples was 1.52% oil as determined by NMR and 2.52% as determined by NIR. The advantages and disadvantages of both methods are discussed.     

Utilization of Isoflavones in Soybeans for Women with Menopausal Syndrome: An Overview

Based on their nutrient composition, soybeans and related foods have been considered to be nutritious and healthy for humans. Particularly, the biological activity and subsequent benefits of soy products may be associated with the presence of isoflavone in soybeans. As an alternative treatment for menopause-related symptoms, isoflavone has gained much popularity for postmenopausal women who have concerns related to undergoing hormone replacement therapy. However, current research has still not reached a consensus on the effects of isoflavone on humans. This overview is a summary of the current literature about the processing of soybeans and isoflavone types (daidzein, genistein, and S-equol) and supplements and their extraction and analysis as well as information about the utilization of isoflavones in soybeans. The processes of preparation (cleaning, drying, crushing and dehulling) and extraction of soybeans are implemented to produce refined soy oil, soy lecithin, free fatty acids, glycerol and soybean meal. The remaining components consist of inorganic constituents (minerals) and the minor components of biologically interesting small molecules. Regarding the preventive effects on diseases or cancers, a higher intake of isoflavones is associated with a moderately lower risk of developing coronary heart disease. It may also reduce the risks of breast and colorectal cancer as well as the incidence of breast cancer recurrence. Consumption of isoflavones or soy foods is associated with reduced risks of endometrial and bladder cancer. Regarding the therapeutic effects on menopausal syndrome or other diseases, isoflavones have been found to alleviate vasomotor syndromes even after considering placebo effects, reduce bone loss in the spine and ameliorate hypertension and in vitro glycemic control. They may also alleviate depressive symptoms during pregnancy. On the other hand, isoflavones have not shown definitive effects regarding improving cognition and urogenital symptoms. Because of lacking standardization in the study designs, such as the ingredients and doses of isoflavones and the durations and outcomes of trials, it currently remains difficult to draw overall conclusions for all aspects of isoflavones. These limitations warrant further investigations of isoflavone use for women’s health.     

Controlling Argan Seed Quality by NIR

The suitability of using visible/near infrared spectroscopy (Vis/NIR), as a rapid and non‐destructive technique for monitoring the quality of argan seeds (Argania spinosa Skeels) was studied. The analyzed parameters were the fatty acid composition of argan seed oil, seed moisture content, seed oil content and oil stability index (OSI). The ratio between major unsaturated and saturated fatty acids (U/S) during the oxidation assay at constant temperature was studied. Values from infrared drying were used as a laboratory reference for the moisture. Argan seed oil content was determined by Soxhlet extraction. A fatty acid analysis was carried out by gas chromatography and the OSI was determined by the Rancimat test. Predictive models of argan seed moisture, ratio U/S and OSI showed good accuracy. Therefore, Vis/NIR measurements can be used for controlling several argan seed quality parameters. This procedure might be of interest to the argan oil industry, which is currently in the process of modernization and expansion.     

Quality of soybeans in export

Soybean quality is of concern to processors throughout the world, as deterioration during storage, handling and shipment can result in crude oil which is difficult to process and has high refining losses. Little information is available comparing the relative quality of soybeans in export shipment based on crop year and origin. Shipments of soybeans originating from the United States, Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina were sampled in Europe and Asia during a four-year period. Soybean samples were graded, protein and oil contents determined, and oil quality characteristics assessed by laboratory procedures. Results of these analyses present, for the first time, direct comparisons of the quality of soybeans exported from the principal producing countries. The data suggests that United States (U.S.) farmers and exporters must continue their efforts to improve the physical characteristics of soybeans in export shipment; the emphasis of breeding and genetic engineering research should be to increase the protein content of soybeans grown in the U.S.; and that the high quality of crude oil recovered from U.S. soybeans should prove an advantage to the processor using soybeans imported from the United States.     

Oil quality from hydraulic pressed soybeans

Summary HYDRAULIC pressed soybean oil quality is affected a great deal by the moisture of the beans at the time of milling. At moistures above 12 to 13% the oil quality deteriorates sharply. A great improvement in the oil from wet or even moisture damaged soybeans can be made by drying the beans in below 12% before milling. Even badly deteriorated (sample grade) beans have been vastly improved. Blending of wet and dry soybeans to an average moisture below 12% does not seem to yield as good quality oil as drying wet beans to a corresponding moisture. Normal variations in other soybean characteristics determining bean grade have lesser effects on soybean oil quality. Some data on the effect of bean damage, splits, off-color varieties, and foreign material are included in this paper. Hydraulic oil mills operating on soybeans will be able to make large improvements in oil quality by drying whole wet beans at the mill and by removing foreign material from the beans.     

Bland undenatured soybean flakes by alcohol washing and flash desolventizing

The conditions for removing the beany and bitter flavor from defatted soybean meal with ethanol and isopropyl alcohol were investigated. In the presence of alcohols, soybean protein is extremely sensitive to denaturation when temperature, moisture, and residence time are increased. If protein is to be isolated in good yield and quality, retention of the original, high watersolubility is important, and denaturation must be kept to a minimum. Defatted soybean flakes were successfully debittered by countereurrent washing with aqueous alcohols on a pilot-plant scale, and the entrained solvent was recovered by flash desolventizing without excessive denaturation of protein. Effective debittering was obtained with 95 volume percentage ethanol and 91 volume percentage isopropyl alcohol whereas satisfactory flavor was not obtained with absolute ethanol. The solubility of the nitrogenous compounds in the meal product (Nitrogen Solubility Index—NSI=water-soluble nitrogen×100÷ total nitrogen) was maintained at 68 NSI, or higher, regardless of the solvent system or conditions used when starting with 80 NSI defatted flakes. Residual alcohol in the desolventized products was reduced to 1–2% with the aqueous alcohol system and to less than 1% for the absolute alcohol system. Lower residual values can be obtained by recycling the material through the desolventizing unit. The desolventizing system described is simple, low in cost, and should be useful in any process requiring the rapid removal of solvent from residual solids where heat-sensitive constituents are present.     

Total oil analysis of soybeans by simultaneous grinding and solvent extraction

A new, rapid method for total oil analysis of soybeans is proposed in which ground soybeans are mixed with solvent and further ground in a closed homogenizer until the oil is completely dissolved. A sample of the slurry can then be filtered and the oil content determined by evaporating the solvent from a measured amount of miscella. Parameters studied included times and speeds needed to produce sufficiently small particles so that all the oil was dissolved. The new analysis compared favorably with conventional Goldfisch extraction for total oil of soybeans. Preliminary experiments indicated that rapeseed could be extracted by the new procedure without preliminary grinding. Published with the approval of the director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.     

Long-term soybean composition patterns and their effect on processing

Soybean protein and oil data from eight years of national surveys showed Western Corn Belt soybeans to consistently be one percentage point lower in protein than soybeans from the rest of the nation. There was year-to-year vasiability in protein patterns among other regions. Oil percentages were more variable than protein percentages among different years. Except for the far northern states, which typically produce low protein soybeans, improvement and stabilization of oil content would produce the most certain increases in processor yields. Increased protein would be valuable only if soybean meal were priced to reward protein content in excess of specifications.     

Application of near infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy for on-line measurement of coal properties

The applicability of the Multi-wavelength Near-infrared sensor to analyze coal properties such as proximate analysis (moisture, ash, volatile matter, fixed carbon), ultimate analysis (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur) and heating value is discussed. The most useful wavelengths (1,680, 1,942, 2,100, 2,180, 2,300 nm) for determining coal properties concentration were chosen by analyzing the NIR spectrum according to coal properties. Absorbances at the characteristic wavelength obtained from 128 mixed coal samples, which are using at a conventional thermal power plant, were correlated to the coal properties by using multiple regression analysis. The accuracy of coal analysis was examined by calculating the RMSEC (%), RMSEP (%), comparing the error with ASTM/ISO tolerance and performing paired Student’s T-test. The result of on-line coal analysis for all moisture, volatile matter, fixed carbon, carbon, hydrogen and heating value is not different from that of ASTM/ISO traditional methods at 90% confidence level. The technology appears suitable for the determination of several coal prorperties. If calibrated periodically, this on-line analysis of coal properties is helpful to efficiently operate a coal fired power plant.     

Effects of soybean pretreatments on crude oil quality

The effects of soybean pretreatments, including infrared (IR) radiation, oven toasting, microwave heating and live steam treatment on crude oil quality were investigated. Free fatty acid, oxidation value, carbonyl value and tocopherol content were used to monitor crude soybean oil quality. All soybean pretreatments were effective in improving the quality of oils from 15 and 18% moisture beans. Based on the analyses, recommended treatments are 3–4 min for IR at 220V–250W; 1 min for microwave heating at 650 W–2450 mHz; 1–1.5 min for steam heating; and 100–120°C, 30 min for oven toasting. Heat treatment of high-moisture soybeans before extraction yielded crude oil with a lower content of phosphatidic acid as compared to that of the untreated beans.     

The effect of soybean moisture during storage on the lipid composition of extracted crude oil

The quality of soybean oil extracted from seed stored under constant temperature and relative humidity for 42 days was evaluated over a wide range of moisture levels. Storage of soybeans at 9, 13 and 18% moisture had little affect on the major lipid components (neutral lipids), even though seed stored at 18% moisture became infected with mold. The level of phospholipid in the extracted crude oil decreased during the last 3 weeks of storage in seeds stored at 13 and 18% moisture from 4 to 2.5% of the total oil. During the same period, the level of free fatty acids, (FFA) (primarily 16∶0 and 18∶2) in these samples increased. This study indicated that the increase in FFA during seed storage at high moisture levels was the result of soybean lipase and possibly phospholipase activity. These findings suggested that soybeans should be kept at less than 13% moisture for long-term on-farm storage to preserve oil quality.     

Prediction of quality of intact olives by near infrared spectroscopy

In this work we investigated the intact olive fruit quality prediction parameters measured directly by visible and near infrared spectroscopy (Vis/NIRS); the usefulness of a portable spectrometer is also assessed. The analysed parameters of the olive fruits were moisture, dry matter, oil content, oil free acidity and fruit maturity index. It was also studied whether NIR prediction of dry matter on olives may be more useful than NIR moisture measurement. Likewise, the results from the NIR prediction of olive oil contents related to dry matter as well as to fresh weight, were compared. Models for oil content were developed using Soxhlet extraction from dried olive paste as the reference analysis. Results indicate a good prediction potential of the models for the olive quality parameters analysed, with RPD ratios from 2.51 to 3.18. The successful NIR predictions of these quality parameters are reported for the first time. Practical applications: The technique presented here can expedite the milling procedure by allowing early detection of the olive quality and a quick calculation of the economic returns to the producers becomes possible. Furthermore, since oil quality depends largely on the optimal harvesting date when the olives should be taken to the mill, techniques that enable the monitoring of the oil content in olive fruit at different stages of maturity, even while still on the tree, become a useful and practical tool. This technique could allow monitoring the quality attributes of large amounts of the olive fruit entering the mill without the need of laboratory analysis that can only be conducted on a small number of olive fruit samples.     

Effect of moisture and temperature on the phosphorus content of crude soybean oil extracted from fine flour

Analysis of total oil content in soybeans is usually done by extracting flours, whereas commercial extraction for recovery of oil is done by extracting flakes. It has recently become apparent that phosphorus content of crude soybean oil extracted from flours can vary depending on extraction temperature and flour moisture. In this study, flour moistures below 6% yielded crude oil with low phosphorus (15 ppm), but phosphorus in the oil increased rapidly to 260 ppm at 9% moisture. When temperature of the extraction was increased from 25 to 60°C, the phosphorus in extracted oil also increased for moisture contents of 6.6% and 8.3%, but not for moisture contents of 5% and 3%. In addition to the effects of extraction temperature, it was found that preheating whole soybeans at various temperatures affected phosphorus in oil from extracted flour. Preheating at 130°C caused high phosphorus content regardless of how dry the flour was, whereas preheating at 100°C or below caused phosphorus content that increased with increased moisture. The response of phosphorus content in crude oil to temperature and moisture may be useful in improving the quality of commercially extracted soy oil.     

Microwave roasting and phospholipids in soybeans (Glycine max. L.) at different moisture contents

The effects of microwave roasting on phospholipids in soybeans were investigated in relation to moisture. Whole soybeans at different moistures (9.6, 38.2, and 51.9%) were roasted by exposure to microwaves at a frequency of 2,450 MHz. During microwave treatments, the lower the moisture content, the higher was the internal temperature in soybeans at the end of microwave roasting. Total lipids were extracted from the beans after microwave treatment, and the phospholipids were separated with thin-layer chromatography. Phosphatidylcholine was the principal phospholipid in the extracted lipids from all unroasted and roasted bean samples. After microwave roasting, phospholipids containing an amino group, especially phosphatidylethanolamine, decreased substantially (P<0.05) in lower-moisture soybeans. However, increasing the moisture content depressed a rise in the internal temperature of soybeans and prevented a reduction in phospholipids and/or polyunsaturated fatty acids in the phospholipids. Based on the changes in the composition and fatty acid distribution of phospholipids in soybeans during microwave roasting, it is necessary to consider the moisture content in soybeans when roasting in a microwave oven.     

Non-destructive Determination of Wood Constituents by Fourier Transform Raman Spectroscopy

The feasibility of using FT-Raman spectroscopy for rapid determination of various wood constituents non-destructively was examined using five Eucalyptus species, including samples of various ages and colors of samples, which are of importance as a plantation source. Wood constituents which relate to pulp properties (holocellulose, α -cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, extractives, alkali-extractives, total-extractives, and extractives-free (EF) wood constituents for holocellulose, α -cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) were measured. The application of 2nd derivatives transformation of Raman spectroscopic data revealed highly significant correlations between wet chemical and Raman predicted values for all traits except EF-hemicellulose, with standard error of prediction (SEP) < 0.8 points in the calibration (for known samples) and SEP < 3.4 points in the prediction (for unknown samples), respectively. Consequently, this non-destructive method has proved its validity for analyzing various Eucalyptus native wood meal samples, regardless of their age and color, to determine wood constituents and EF-wood constituents except hemicellulose. Use of this method will reduce the costs of tree improvement programs and the minimal sample size needed will allow trees to be non-destructively sampled.     

Comparison of three whole seed near-infrared analyzers for measuring quality components of canola seed

Whole seed near-infrared (NIR) analyzers are capable of high-speed compositional analysis of oilseed commodities. This study compared the PerCon Inframatic 8144 (Perten Instruments, North America Inc., Reno, NV), the Tecator Infratec 1225 (Tecator AB, Hoganas, Sweden) and the NIR-Systems 6500 (NIR Systems, Inc., Silver Spring, MD) analyzers for measurement of oil, protein, chlorophyll and glucosinolates in intact canola seed of composite samples from the Grain Research Laboratory's (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) annual Western Canada Harvest Surveys (1985–1989) for assembly of calibration and prediction sets. No significant differences were found between the three instruments for oil [standard error of prediction (SEP 0.43–0.55%)], protein (SEP 0.35–0.42%) and glucosinolates (SEP 2.4–3.8 mM/g). Neither the Tecator nor the PerCon instruments were effective for determining chlorophyll. By combining oil content and fatty acid composition data to give an estimate of the total level of each fatty acid in the sample, high correlations were obtained for total saturates, linolenic acid, and linoleic acid although the RPD (ratio of the S.E. of prediction to the S.D. of the original data) values were not high enough to enable routine use of the method to predict results. Presented at the 84th AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo, April 27, 1993, Anaheim, California.