Abstract:The changes of bud length, germination rate, protein, amino acid, crude fat, starch, ash content, total flavonoids, total polyphenols, γ-aminobutyric acid and saponin content were investigatedduring the period of sprouting. The rate of germination could reach 80% after 24 hours. There was a decreasing tendency on the content of protein, total ash and total starch, while the crude fat content displayed a trend of increasing, and the variation were 64%, 41%, 49% and 28% respectively. The composition of amino acids had no obvious change, but the proportion of total essential amino acids (TEAA) to total content of amino acids (TAA) increased from 35% to 38%; Polyphenols and flavonoids content were dropping after increasing firstly, then decreasing, the peak values were 1.76 mg/g and 2.8 mg/g after sprouting 36 hours and 60 hours respectively. From early stages of germination to 72 hours, the content of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) was rising continuously to the highest (185.6 mg / 100 g, 3.4 times of not sprout quinoa), then followed by a slightly decline. Saponins content dropped rapidly at the beginning of the germination (6 hours), kept steady during 6~42 hours and then up to highest content (7.80 mg/g) after sprouting of 96 hours, it began to decline after 120 h.