1. Introduction
Soybean (
Glycine max (L.) Merr.) seeds contain 40% protein and 20% oil. Because of its seed composition, it is one of the most economically important oil crops globally. Sixty-one percent of world oil seed production was from soybean seed, followed by rapeseed, sunflower, and peanut [
1]. Generally, soybean oils are composed of triacylglycerols, with a glycerol backbone attached to three fatty acids and fatty acid compositions that influence soybean oil uses [
2]. Five major fatty acids are found in soybean oil: palmitic acid (16:0), stearic acid (18:0), oleic acid (18:1), linoleic acid (18:2), and α-linolenic acid (18:3). The fatty acids in cultivated soybean oil are 11% of 16:0, 4% of 18:0, 23% of 18:1, 55% of 18:2, and 8% of 18:3 [
3]. Depending on the existence of double bond(s) in the carbon chains of fatty acids, oils either have saturated or unsaturated fatty acids. The saturated fatty acids are 16:0 and 18:0, whereas the unsaturated fatty acids in soybean oil are divided into two categories: mono-unsaturated fatty acid (18:1) and polyunsaturated fatty acid (18:2 and 18:3).
In 2018, 56.3 million metric tons of soybean oil were consumed globally [
1]. However, trans-fats are generated during the soybean oil hydrogenation process, which improve its oxidative and heat stability. Numerous studies on trans-fat have concluded that it poses risks to human health and could cause coronary heart disease and increase cholesterol levels [
4,
5,
6]. Following an increase in awareness about the potential adverse effects of trans-fats, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA, Silver Spring, MD, USA) introduced a food labeling regulation requiring the indication of the trans-fat contents on food nutrition fact labels [
7]. The generation of trans-fats in soybean oil has discouraged the use of soybean oil in foods. To address the generation of trans-fats in the course of hydrogenation and to improve oxidative stability, soybean breeders have been challenged to reduce the 18:3 concentration from 8% to 1% in soybean oil [
8,
9,
10,
11,
12].
Although in Western countries soybean production focuses on providing high protein meals for livestock and the manufacture of vegetable oils, in many Asian countries, traditionally, soybean has been used as a staple food that is consumed as soy milk, tofu, soy sprout, fermented soy foods, and soy sauce [
13,
14]. Nevertheless, the consumption of soy foods has been increasing in North America, following the recognition of the health benefits of soy foods.
When soybean is consumed directly as food, polyunsaturated fatty acids such as linoleic (18:2, ω-6) and α-linolenic acid (18:3, ω-3) are essential fatty acids and are the precursors of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6). Such fatty acids prevent inflammation, cardiovascular diseases, and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as promote fetal development [
15,
16]. In addition, numerous studies have concluded that a higher intake of ω-3 fatty acid or fatty acids with relatively low ω-6/ω-3 ratios is appropriate from a human health perspective [
17,
18,
19].
The ω-6/ω-3 ratios of cultivated soybean generally range from 6:1 to 7:1 [
20,
21]. The mean 18:3 concentration in 18 cultivated soybean accessions with elevated α-linolenic acid (EALA) from the USDA Soybean Germplasm Collection grown in South Korea ranged from 6.5 to 10.7% in soybean seed oil. However, most wild soybean (
Glycine soja Sieb. and Zucc.) seeds have oils with almost two-fold (~15%) the 18:3 concentration of cultivated soybean oil, and therefore the ω-6/ω-3 ratios are approximately 4:1 in wild soybean oil [
20,
22,
23,
24]. In addition, Pantalone et al. [
25] suggested that the accumulation of a high concentration of 18:3 in wild soybean was due to a different set of desaturate alleles controlling 18:3 in cultivated soybean. Therefore, it is necessary to develop novel cultivated soybean lines with high 18:3 concentration using wild soybean as a genetic resource for increasing 18:3 concentration and lowering ω-6/ω-3 ratios [
20,
26].
As the instability of fatty acids is a source of concern, many studies have explored genotype–environment interactions regarding fatty acids in soybean seeds. Studies have reported that temperature influences fatty acid profiles, particularly in the case of unsaturated fatty acids [
27,
28,
29,
30,
31,
32]. Oliva et al. [
33] reported that soybean genotypes with higher 18:3 concentration were less stable across 10 growth environments. However, three recombinant inbred lines (RILs) with EALA concentration from an interspecific cross between
G. max and
G. soja had stable 18:3 concentration across different environments [
20]. Therefore, it is important to understand the stability of 18:3 concentration using EALA lines in diverse geographical locations. Stable EALA lines can be used as food containing plant-derived ω-3, which have high protein concentrations, for people living in countries with risks of inadequate ω-3 intake. The objective of the present study was to enhance our understanding of the environmental stability of EALA concentration in soybean lines containing alleles from a wild soybean, PI 483463, grown in three Asian countries, including two subtropical nations.
3. Results
The present study investigated the stability of 18:3 concentration in soybean seeds, which were derived from wild soybean, across eight environments. We determined the amounts of fatty acids extracted from mature seeds of the soybean genotypes grown in different field environments. ANOVA was conducted to determine the influence of environmental and genetic effects on each fatty acid (
Table 3). Genotype, environment, and genotype × environment interactions influenced each evaluated fatty acid in the soybean lines in the eight environments significantly (
p < 0.001). A larger mean square value indicates a greater influence on fatty acid accumulation (
Figure S1). The primary factor in the 16:0 and 18:0 was the environmental factor, with 66.55% and 69.3% of the total mean squares, respectively. Although the values of the genotypic effect for the 18:1 and 18:2 were 44.1% and 42.4%, respectively, the environment effect was the most significant factor influencing the accumulation of 18:1 and 18:2. The 73.7% of total variation for the accumulation of the 18:3 was due to an environmental factor. Overall, an environmental effect was the key factor influencing fatty acid accumulation.
Mean fatty acid concentrations in EALA soybean genotypes and check cultivars across the eight environments are listed in
Table 4. The mean 16:0 and 18:0 concentrations in soybean lines ranged from 10.5% to 12.0% and 3.0% to 3.6%, respectively. Soybean genotypes contained 16.1%–30.9% of 18:1, 47.2%–57.6% of 18:2, and 7.9%–12.9% of 18:3. On average, EALA lines contained 11.5% 18:3, which is 3.2% higher than the concentration in the check cultivated soybeans (8.3%) across the eight environments. Therefore, the ω-6/ω-3 ratio in the EALA lines ranged from 4.4 to 5.6, which were lower than those of the check cultivars (6.0 to 6.3).
The means of the 18:3 concentration in the soybean genotypes across the eight environments in the three Asian countries are listed in
Table 5. The soybean genotypes grown in Vietnam, 2019 (E4), produced the least 18:3 concentration (7.9%), whereas those grown on 19 June, in Gunwi, Korea (E6), had the highest mean 18:3 concentration (12.9%). The mean concentration of 18:3 of soybean genotypes was higher when they were planted in June rather than May in Gunwi (12.5% in E5 and 12.9% in E6, respectively) and in Gwangju (7.9% in E7 and 12.2% in E8, respectively), Korea. The highest 18:3 concentration across the eight environments was the UT-385-4-4 line, ranging from 10.6% to 14.8%, with an average 12.9%, followed by UT-223-3-2, UT-475-4-4, and UT-480-3-2 (
Table 5 and
Table 6). Conversely, check cultivars, including Pungsannamul, Uram, and Williams 82, had lower mean of 18:3 concentration of 8.3%, 8.2%, and 8.9%, respectively, across the eight environments, ranging from 3.4% to 12.5%, 3.6% to 12.9%, and 6.6% to 13.1%, respectively.
The stability parameters, such as the range of average 18:3 concentration, CV, and stability coefficient (b
E) for mean 18:3 concentration of soybean genotypes, are listed in
Table 6. The lower the range and CV values, the more stable the concentrations are across environments in which the soybean genotypes are produced. Range values of PT-1190-2 (9.3) and UT-223-1-1 (8.3) were close to those of the three check cultivars, indicating that these five soybean lines were less stable when compared with other genotypes. PT-100-3 had the least range (3.5) in the 18:3 concentration across the environments studied.
The CV trends for the 18:3 concentration of the soybean genotypes were slightly different from range trends (
Table 6). The check cultivars had higher CV values, 35.4% for Pungsannamul, 37.7% for Uram, and 25.4% for Williams 82, when compared with the CV values of the EALA lines. PT-100-3 was the most stable line based on the CV value (11.7%) among fifteen soybean genotypes across eight environments, followed by UT-385-4-4 (13.3%), PT-98-1-4 (13.5%), and PT1133-4-1 (14.7%).
The stability coefficients (b
E) of each of the soybean genotypes for the 18:3 concentration represent variations in environmental stability across eight environments in three Asian countries (
Table 6). The soybean genotypes with b
E values closest to zero are more stable across the eight environments. The stability coefficient values for 18:3 concentration ranged from −0.3 to −1.6. The UT-46-3-3 genotype was the most stable, with highest stability coefficient (b
E = −0.3,
p = 0.511,
r2 = 0.1) among the soybean genotypes tested, followed by the PT-100-3 genotype (b
E = −0.7,
p < 0.001,
r2 = 0.9). Notably, the 18:3 concentration of Williams 82 was stable across the environments based on the stability coefficient (b
E = −0.7,
p < 0.106,
r2 = 0.4), when compared with the range and CV values. A GGE plot was visualized to select the best soybean lines in specific environments (
Figure 1). The perpendiculars divide the biplot into the six sectors. Soybean genotypes were in the polygon, and the best soybean genotypes for each sector were located on the vertices of polygon. Soybean genotype UT-385-4-4 was the best soybean line to produce 18:3 concentration in E1 (Vietnam in 2018), E2 (Vietnam in 2019), E3 (Laos in 2018), E6 (Gunwi, South Korea, 19 Jun 2018), E7 (Gwangju, South Korea, 29 May 2018), and E8 (Gwangju, South Korea, 29 Jun 2018). None of these environments were in the sectors with Uram and Pungsannamul as the vertices, meaning that these cultivars were not the best in any of the environments.
Mean ranks were determined based on the three stability parameters, including ranges of 18:3 concentration, CVs, and stability coefficient values listed in
Table 6. The PT100-3 soybean genotype had the most stable for 18:3 concentration, with an average concentration of 10.5% across the eight study environments, followed by UT-385-4-4, which was ranked second based on the mean rank, with the highest mean value of the 18:3 concentration among the soybean genotypes. The 18:3 concentration in the check cultivars was less stable when compared with the EALA soybean genotypes based on mean rank, excluding PT-1190-2.
4. Discussion
As soybean is one of the most economically important oil crops, most studies have focused on the reduction of 18:3 concentration to improve oxidative stability. However, in many Asian countries, soybean has been consumed directly in both fermented and non-fermented forms. 18:3 (ω-3) is one of the most important essential fatty acids in human diets, and is the precursor of EPA and DHA, which prevent several diseases such as inflammation, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as promoting fetal development [
15,
16]. Therefore, it is important to increase 18:3 concentration in soybean breeding programs.
Wild soybean can be exploited as a genetic resource to develop soybean lines with high 18:3 concentration [
20,
22]. However, exploiting wild soybeans in breeding programs is challenging due to their poor agronomic traits such as small seeds, vine growth habit, seed shattering, and seed hardness. In the present study, we developed soybean lines with EALA concentration from a wild soybean, PI 483463, with 15.4% 18:3 concentration [
20]. As soybean genotypes were backcrossed with three cultivated soybeans with normal 18:3 concentration, the genomic constitution of EALA soybean genotypes genomes were 87.5% similar to those of the cultivated soybean genomes. Therefore, phenotypes such as erect type, yellow seed coat, less lodging, leaf size, and seed size of the soybean genotypes containing desaturase alleles that increase 18:3 concentration from a source of wild soybean were close to the cultivated soybeans.
We evaluated how environmental and genetic factors influence the accumulation of different fatty acid profiles in EALA soybean lines across eight environments in three Asian countries. Our results revealed that the environment was the key factor influencing different fatty acid profiles (
Figure 1,
Table 2). In addition, genotype and genotype × environment interactions influenced fatty acid profiles, based on the ANOVA results (
Table 2) [
20,
21,
42,
43]. We observed that the environment was the most critical factor influencing 18:3 concentration in soybean oil, accounting for 73.7% of the variation, which is consistent with the findings of Hou et al. [
28]. However, soybean lines from high 18:3 concentration alleles of wild soybean had higher levels of 18:3 when compared with cultivated soybeans across nine different environments [
20].
Generally, in soybeans, unsaturated fatty acids are less stable when compared with saturated fatty acids. Higher temperatures during pod-filling periods are associated with decreased 18:2 and 18:3 concentrations and increased 18:1 concentration in soybean seed oil [
21,
27,
29,
32,
33]. We observed that soybean genotypes grown under high temperatures in the pod-filing periods had lower amounts of 18:3 concentration (
Table 5). In addition, planting dates influenced the accumulation of fatty acid profiles. According to Wilcox and Cavins [
44], soybean genotypes planted late produced higher 18:3 concentration than early planted soybean genotypes. The results of the presented study also indicated that planting dates influenced the accumulation of 18:3 concentration for most of the soybean genotypes in two locations (
Table 5).
The intake of either fatty acids with lower ω-6/ω-3 ratios or the intake of fatty acids with high ω-3 is desirable for human health [
17,
18,
19]. Recently, Kulkarni et al. [
24] suggested that the combination of the microsomal delta-12 fatty acid desaturase 2 genes, with alleles of wild soybean to elevate 18:3 concentration, could reduce the ω-6/ω-3 fatty acid ratios to the 1.7 to 2.5 range, considering cultivated soybean has an approximate ω-6/ω-3 ratio of 6.0, while increasing both 18:0 and 18:3 concentrations and decreasing 18:2 concentration.
Asekoba et al. [
20] reported that the ω-6/ω-3 ratios of three RILs from a single cross of Hutcheson and wild soybean, PI 483463, were 3.7, 3.9, and 4.1, whereas that of a check cultivar, Williams 82, was 6.9. Similarly, in the present study, a soybean genotype, UT-385-4-4, had the highest 18:3 concentration in three Asian countries and the lowest ω-6/ω-3 ratio (4.4). Based on the three stability parameters explored in the present study, PT-100-3 was the most stable producer of 18:3 concentration across eight environments with a mean concentration of 10.5% (
Table 6). However, UT-385-4-4 produced the highest 18:3 concentration (12.9%) and was more stable in the study than all other soybean genotypes, excluding PT-100-3. In addition, UT-385-4-4 was the best soybean genotype across six environments based on the result of GGE biplot (
Figure 1). To develop a novel soybean cultivar with high 18:3 concentration for soybean foods, UT-385-4-4 is a potential genetic resource for exploitation in breeding programs.
One of our earlier studies observed that Korea was one of the centers of origin of domesticated soybean with relatively high 18:3 concentration evaluated in different environments based on wild soybean collections in the country [
22,
45]. The results indicated that two wild soybeans had much higher 18:3 concentration and more stable fatty acid profiles than a check cultivar, with means in the 18.5% to 19.1% range. Dhakal et al. [
21] conducted a stability study in Korea with EALA cultivated plant introductions whose 18:3 concentration were available in the USDA soybean germplasm collections, as reported in germplasm resources information network, ranging from 8.5% to 15.5%. However, the highest value in plant introductions was 10.7%. Pantalone et al. [
25] suggested that the accumulation of high concentration of 18:3 in wild soybean was due to a different set of desaturate alleles controlling 18:3 in cultivated soybean. Through QTL analyses, six novel QTLs were linked to the accumulation of 18:3 concentration in wild soybean, suggesting that the QTLs are different from the ones influencing 18:3 concentration in cultivated soybean [
23]. The accumulation of 18:3 concentration in cultivated and wild soybean is still unknown. Thus, further genetic, breeding, molecular biology, and genomic investigations are required to enhance our understanding of the factors influencing 18:3 concentration in both cultivated and wild soybean.
Generally, dietary ω-3 fatty acids known as EPA and DHA are obtained from fish and fish products globally. However, as fish catch gradually decreases due to environmental pollution, climate change, indiscriminate fishing, and increased poaching, fish and fish products are likely to be inadequate sources of ω-3 in many countries. Vegetable oils, such as canola and soybean oil, are major sources of 18:3, shorter chain ω-3 fatty acids. Among oil crops, flaxseed, perilla, and English walnut are rich in 18:3. Plant-derived ω-3 can be potential alternative sources of ω-3 fatty acids for populations living in developing tropical and subtropical countries, with high risks of inadequate ω-3 intake.
The development of novel soybean cultivars with high protein and elevated 18:3 concentration could enhance human health in populations consuming soybean foods. As the present study was conducted in two subtropical regions—Vietnam and Laos—EALA lines produced more stable 18:3 concentration than those of check cultivars. Therefore, the EALA lines could be exploited as genetic resources in subtropical and tropical regions for the development of novel soybean cultivars with high levels of 18:3 concentration, which could be sources of ω-3 fatty acids.