Abstract:Cowpea（Vigna unguiculata）cultivars Haijiang No.1（H1），Haijiang No.2（H2）and Haixiu No.7（H7），as raw materials，were used to investigate the change of germination on nutritional composition and trace elements during the process of germination.The results showed that soluble proteins of H1 and H7（except for H2）significantly were increased after 1 d of germination，and then were gradually decreased in the three cultivars.With the extension of the germination time，three cultivars of cowpea starch all were decreased，and total soluble sugar were decreased first and then increased.The content of reducing sugar in H2 and H7 were increased first and then decreased and H1 reducing sugar content was gradually increased.The content of vitamin C （VC）in H1，H2 and H7 reached a maximum level of 20.98，19.51，25.88mg/100 g after 3 d of germination，respectively.Significant difference on trace elements（Zn，Fe，Mn，Cu）among 3 genotypes was observed，and there was no regular change during germination but contents were a slight increased after 5 d of germination.After 4 d of germination，the anti-nutritional factors（phytic acid，tannin）of the three varieties of H1，H2 and H7 were decreased by（48.68%，90.56%），（27.27%，91.79%）and（56.23%，90.03%），respectively，and then gently.