The occurrence of starch and other soluble carbohydrates in the embryos and young developing fruits of 'Essex' soybeans were determined at anthesis and continuing 10 days after flowering (DAF). The embryo was shown to be filled with starch grains which disappeared with development. Digestion of embryo sections with a mixture of α- and β-amylases showed a rapid hydrolysis of the reserve starch, suggesting that enzymatic degradation in vivo may provide soluble sugars as substrates for embryo growth. Starch and soluble sugars in the young developing fruits were found to be high at anthesis and then decreased with fruit growth. However, 6-8 DAF, fruits 7-9 mm showed an influx of soluble sugars and an accumulation of starch. Glucose was the major component of the soluble sugars in the 80% ethanolic extracts analyzed by high performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC). Sucrose was present as a lesser component. Amylase activity was maximal at anthesis, but declined with increasing fruit size. Beta-amylase comprised a high percentage of the amylolytic activity in the developing fruits. Embryo development in fruits of greenhouse-grown plants collected 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 OAF closely paralleled that of greenhouse-grown plants sampled by morphological sizes. The stages of embryo development in fruits from field-grown plants sampled by morphological sizes were similar to anthesis, 2-5 mm, and 4-6 mm fruits of greenhouse-grown plants sampled by the same procedure. However, embryos of field-grown fruits 7-9 mm and 10-15 mm showed a more advanced growth than embryos of fruits of comparable size from greenhouse-grown plants. / M.S.

A soja é uma leguminosa muito consumida no Brasil e no mundo, sua principal utilização é como fonte de matéria-prima na alimentação animal, devido ao fato de possuir alto teor de proteína e energia em sua composição. Na sua forma integral, a soja apresenta fatores antinutricionais, que podem causar doenças digestivas, além de interferir na absorção e aproveitamento nutricional dos animais que a consomem. Por isso, a soja necessita passar por um tratamento térmico que seja suficiente para inativar estes fatores antinutricionais que nela se fazem presentes. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi avaliar a aplicação da espectroscopia no infravermelho próximo (NIR) na análise de soja inativada por tratamentos térmicos de tostagem e micro-ondas. Para isto, diferentes tratamentos térmicos de tostagem (T1 a T9: 110 a 120 oC/20 a 40’) e micro-ondas (M1 a M9: 20 a 40W/15 a 25’) foram aplicados em grãos de soja integral, em escala laboratorial, tomando como referência amostras de soja inativadas industrialmente (110 ºC a 0,85 kg.cm-²/ 50’). As amostras foram analisadas quanto ao teor de umidade, lipídios, proteínas e ainda, inibidores de tripsina, atividade ureática e solubilidade proteica. A espectroscopia de infravermelho próximo (NIR) integrada a calibração de regressão por mínimos quadrados parciais (PLS) foi desenvolvida para analisar o teor de umidade, lipídios, proteínas e solubilidade proteica destas amostras de soja. Um total de 219 espectros foram coletados a partir de 73 amostras de soja, sendo 37 amostras utilizadas para calibração (inativadas industrialmente) e as 36 demais utilizadas no conjunto de validação (inativadas por tostagem e micro-ondas, laboratorialmente). Em relação aos parâmetros de inativação da soja por tostagem e micro-ondas, os resultados mais satisfatórios e próximos à escala industrial foram para o tratamento térmico de tostagem o T8 (30' / 130º C) e para o micro-ondas o M5 (20'/ 30W). A análise de umidade, lipídios, proteínas e solubilidade proteica por NIR revelou coeficiente de correlação (R²) de 0,767, 0,845, 0,915 e 0,910, respectivamente. Embora não tenha apresentado uniformidade para amostras submetidas a condições extremas (superaquecida ou subprocessada), a avaliação do método indicou que este pode ser efetivamente aplicado para avaliação da composição bromatológica e solubilidade proteica em amostras processadas industrialmente. / Soybeans are very consumed in Brazil and in the world, its main use is as a source of raw material in animal feed, due to the high content of protein and energy. Raw soybean presents antinutritional factors, that can cause digestive diseases, besides interfering in the absorption and nutritional in animals. Therefore, the soybean needs to be thermally inactivated to reduce these antinutritional factors. The objective of this research was to evaluate the application of near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) in the analysis of soybean inactivated by thermal treatments of roasting and microwave. For this, different thermal treatments of toast (T1 to T9: 110 to 120 oC / 20 to 40') and microwaves (M1 to M9: 20 to 40W / 15 to 25') were applied to raw soybean grains in laboratory scale, and industrially scale, inactivated at 110 ºC, 0,85 kg.cm-² / 50'). The samples were analysed for moisture content, lipids, proteins and trypsin inhibitors, urea activity and protein solubility. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) integrated the partial least square regression (PLS) calibration was developed to analyse the moisture content, lipids, proteins and protein solubility of these soybean samples. A total of 219 spectra were collected from 73 soybean samples, 37 of which were used for calibration (inactivated industrially) and the remaining 36 were used in the validation set (inactivated by toast and microwave, laboratory). In relation to the inactivation parameters of the soybean by toasting and microwave, the most satisfactory and near industrial scale results were for the T8 (30 '/ 130 ° C) toasting heat treatment and for the microwave the M5 (20 '/ 30W). The analysis of moisture, lipids, proteins and protein solubility by NIR revealed a correlation coefficient (R²) of 0.767, 0.845, 0.915 and 0.910, respectively. Although it did not show uniformity for samples subjected to extreme conditions (superheated or subprocessed), the method indicated that it can be effectively applied for evaluation of the bromatological composition and protein solubility in industrially processed samples.