Changes in oil, sugars and nitrogenous components during germination of sunflower seeds, Helianthus annuus.

Since germination has been found to improve the nutritional quality of grains, sunflower seeds Helianthus annuus were germinated for up to five days, and the cotyledons were analyzed for oil, sugar, free amino acid, non-protein nitrogen, lysine, tryptophan and methionine contents. Protein was fractionated. Soaking and germination increased the non-protein nitrogen, total free amino acid, lysine and tryptophan contents. Protein content and dry weight decreased. The oil content decreased significantly after 72 hours of germination. The reducing sugars increased gradually until day 'five' of germination. The saline soluble albumin and globulin fractions decreased while the glutelin content increased during germination. No changes were noticed in the prolamin and methionine contents.