Effect of Blue Light on the Major Components of Soybean-sprouts

Growth of soybean sprouts(Glycine Max L.) and amounts of some chemical components were measured when they were exposed to blue light (120lux, 3hrs/day) during their growth. Hypocotyl length of irradiated soybean sprouts exceeded slightly that of control (dark) soybean sprouts, but the tfresh weight of whole sprouts as well as each part of the sprout showed no difference between the two groups. Chlorophyll content of cotyledon under blue light increased significantly with the lapse of days (3.57 and fresh weight on the 3rd and 7th day). Bluelight irradiated sprouts contained more vitamin C than control sprouts (21.7% and 30.8% higher for the cotyledon and hypocotyl). Total amount of protein was not affected. Hypocotyl protein content was 8% of that in original soybean. Blue light did not affect the activity of trypsin inhibitor of sprouts. Similar activity of the inhibitor was observed in the cotyledon whereas hypocotyl showed activity corresponding to 23.7% of original bean. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoretogram for the protein showed 10, 9, and 11 bands in the original bean. 5th day cotyledon and hypocotyl respectively. Especially, band 3 of low Rm value was major protein component for the hypocotyl. Band 5 and 11 could be seen only in the protein of hypocotyl from bluelight irradiated sprouts, whereas no effect of blue light on the electrophoretogram was observed for the cotyledon.