Short-term germination of faba bean (Vicia faba L.) and the effect on selected chemical constituents

• Five faba bean cultivars had similar proximate composition. • Phytic acid, vicine, and convicine levels did not change during germination. • After 72 h, germination rate is 90%. • Germination (72 h) reduced raffinose, stachyose, verbascose for all cultivars. • Germination reduced total phenolic content in Snowdrop and Snowbird. Selected chemical compounds of five faba bean (FB) cultivars; Snowdrop (low tannin), Taboar (high tannin), Snowbird (low tannin), Fabelle (low vicine & convicine), and Malik (high tannin) that were grown in North America (3 production years) were determined. The effect of short-term germination (24-h, 48-h, and 72-h) on the level of phytic acid, vicine/convicine, oligosaccharides, and total phenolics were evaluated. On average, FB contained 2% phytic acid and there was no difference between the 5 cultivars. Fabelle presented the lowest level of vicine and convicine of 1 and 0.4 mg/g, respectively while the others had 7.27 - 10.82 and 3.53 - 3.93 mg/g, respectively. No significant difference was found among cultivars for oligosaccharides content. Content of total phenolics differed significantly (p ≤ 0.05) between FB cultivars. Snowdrop and Snowbird had the highest total phenolic content of 48.4 and 48.3 mg/g, respectively, while Fabelle had the lowest level of 10.8 mg/g. All cultivars showed significantly (p ≤ 0.05) reduced the contents of raffinose (100%), stachyose (60%), verbascose (80%) at 72 h. Germination had no significant effect on phytic acid, vicine (except Snowbird), and convicine levels. At 48-h, Snowdrop and Snowbird seeds only showed 17-18% reduction (p ≤ 0.05) in total phenolic content. Germination between 48 to 72 h is an option to produce FB seeds with very low levels of oligosaccharides.