BACKGROUND

Soybeans are the world's foremost provider of vegetable protein and oil. Soybean oil is used in food and industrial products. Soybean flakes remaining after the removal of oil can be processed into various edible soy protein products, or used to produce soybean meal for animal feeds.

Soybean seed reserves can be repartitioned through plant research and breeding techniques. Analytical techniques facilitate research by permitting assessment of the composition of the soybean seed, soybean flakes and soybean meal.

SUMMARY

Non-destructive methods for accurately measuring the amount of a sucrosyl-oligosaccharide, such as stachyose, or a combination of stachyose and raffinose, in a soybean seed are provided which include steps of directing near infrared light from a light source onto a soybean seed to form modified light from the soybean seed, receiving the modified light in an imaging device, and measuring the amount of a sucrosyl-oligosaccharide in the soybean seed based on the received modified light. The amount of the sucrosyl-oligosaccharide can be measured to an accuracy that is within 0.2 wt. %, 0.3 wt. %, 0.4 wt. %, 0.5 wt. %, 0.6 wt. %, 0.7 wt. %, 0.8 wt. %, 0.9 wt. %, 1 wt. %, 1.1 wt. %, 1.2 wt. %, 1.3 wt. %, 1.4 wt. %, or 1.5 wt. % of the amount measured using a standard reference analytical method. Following measurements, the seed can be optionally transported to a first or second location depending on whether the amount of sucrosyl-oligosaccharide measured is above or below a threshold value. The threshold value for stachyose can be selected to be, for example, 1 wt. %, 0.9 wt. %, 0.8 wt. %, 0.7 wt. %, 0.6 wt. %, 0.5 wt. %, 0.4 wt. %, 0.3 wt. %, 0.2 wt. % or 0.1 wt. %.

The methods can be used with a single seed or a plurality of seeds in a batch and the method steps can be repeated multiple times. The sucrosyl-oligosaccharide can be accurately measured in at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% of the measurements taken. The methods are non-destructive and preserve the viability of the seed or otherwise permit other compositional analyses or processing to be undertaken. For stachyose measurements, the imaging device can be calibrated using a plurality of soybean seeds having variable stachyose contents falling in a range that includes values of less than 0.1 wt. %, 0.2 wt. %, or 0.3 wt. % stachyose and more than 4.5 wt. %, 5 wt. % or 5.5 wt. % stachyose. In some embodiments, the seed is genetically modified to overexpress a diglyceride acyltransferase.

Provided are methods for measuring stachyose in a population of soybean seeds by directing near infrared light from a light source onto a first and second subsample of a population of soybean seeds to form a first and second modified light, which is received in an imaging device and used to measure the amount of a sucrosyl-oligosaccharide in the first and second subsamples. The first and second subsamples are separated when the amount of stachyose measured differs by at least 1 percentage point between the subsamples and are combined when the amount of stachyose differs by less than 0.2 percentage points between the first and second subsamples. The population can, for example include genetically modified and unmodified soybean seeds, such as a modified diacylglycerol transferase and the oil content of the modified beans may be at least 1 percentage point higher than of the unmodified soybean seeds.

Provided are methods for processing soybean seeds which have been genetically modified to contain high oil, high protein, or a combination thereof compared with unmodified soybean seeds which include the steps of directing near infrared light from a light source onto a sample comprising or being a soybean seed to form modified light from the soybean seed which is received in an imaging device and used to measure the amount of a sucrosyl-oligosaccharide, such as stachyose or a combination of stachyose and raffinose, in the sample. The method steps can be repeated for at least 10 samples and soybean seeds above a threshold value, which indicates high oil, high protein, or a combination thereof, can be separated from soybean seeds below the threshold value. The method is sufficiently robust such that at least 90% of the soybean seeds below the threshold value are modified soybean seeds or at least 90% of the seeds above the threshold value are unmodified soybean seeds. The amount of sucrosyl-oligosaccharide can be measured to an accuracy that is within 0.2 wt. %, 0.3 wt. %, 0.4 wt. %, 0.5 wt. %, 0.6 wt. %, 0.7 wt. %, 0.8 wt. %, 0.9 wt. %, 1 wt. %, 1.1 wt. %, 1.2 wt. %, 1.3 wt. %, 1.4 wt. %, or 1.5 wt. % of the amount measured using a standard reference analytical method. In some embodiments, at least one of the modified seeds that is separated is grown and crossed with the same or a different soybean plant to produce progeny seed. The progeny seed can be grown and crossed with another plant having a genetic modification, such as a recombinant construct incorporated into its genome, to produce further progeny seed, the genetic modification optionally providing one or more traits such as herbicide tolerance, disease resistance, insect resistance, increased grain yield, increased nutritional content, increased growth rate, enhanced stress tolerance, altered maturity. The method can include an initial step of separating the sample comprising the soybean seed from the plurality of seeds such as in an automated method. The method can include the step of measuring the amount of oil in the seed based on the received modified light.

Provided are methods for processing soybean seeds which include seeds genetically modified to contain increased oil and increased protein and unmodified soybean seeds. The methods include the steps of directing near infrared light from a light source onto a sample comprising a soybean seed to form modified light from the soybean seed which is received in an imaging device and used to measure the amount of a sucrosyl-oligosaccharide, such as stachyose or a combination of stachyose and raffinose, in the soybean seed. The method steps are repeated for at least 100 samples or seeds. The amount of sucrosyl-oligosaccharide measured below a threshold value indicates high oil and high protein in the soybean seed and the measurements taken are such that at least 90% of the soybean seeds below the threshold value are the modified soybean seeds or at least 90% of the seeds above the threshold value are the unmodified soybean seeds. The seeds above the threshold value can differ by a least 1 wt. % stachyose from the seeds below the threshold value. The seeds can be further processed for removal of oil and production of soy flakes or meal.

Provided are methods for measuring the amount of a sucrosyl-oligosaccharide, such as stachyose, or a combination of stachyose and raffinose, in soybean meal or soybean flakes. The methods include the steps of directing near infrared light from a light source onto a soybean meal sample to form modified light from the soybean meal sample which is received in an imaging device and used to measure the amount of a sucrosyl-oligosaccharide in the soybean meal sample. The amount of the sucrosyl-oligosaccharide can be measured to an accuracy that is within 0.1 wt. %, 0.2 wt. %, 0.3 wt. %, 0.4 wt. %, 0.5 wt. %, 0.6 wt. %, 0.7 wt. %, 0.8 wt. %, 0.9 wt. %, 1 wt. %, 1.1 wt. %, 1.2 wt. %, 1.3 wt. %, 1.4 wt. %, or 1.5 wt. % of the amount measured using a standard reference analytical method.

