Processing and Nutritional Profile of Mung Bean, Black Gram, Pigeon Pea, Lupin, Moth Bean, and Indian Vetch

The availability of genomic resources in orphan legumes is limited for molecular research because of the high cost involved in development of SSR marker pool. In this study, 162 genic SSR markers derived from Fusarium wilt resistant genomic loci of chickpea were tested for cross-genera transferability across nine other legumes viz., cowpea, horse gram, black gram, pigeon pea, dolichos, rice bean, winged bean, soya bean and moth bean. Nineteen markers of chickpea amplified the genomic DNA of all other legumes indicating the sequence conserved across the genera. However, the markers exhibiting the cross-genera transferability is ranging from 24.40 to 32.14 %. The observed cross-genera transferability was highest in the cowpea (32.14 %), reflected in the closer relationship with chickpea followed by rice bean (31.55 %). The least transferability was reported in moth bean (24.40 %). These transferable genic SSR markers will serve as a valuable tool in genomic research of orphan legumes.

Nonspecific lipid transfer proteins (nsLTPs) have been categorized as panallergens and display widespread occurrence across plant-kingdom. Present study, investigated B-cell epitopes for LTPs from chickpea, mung-bean, cowpea, pigeon-pea, and soybean via in silico methods. In-silico predicted regions were evaluated for epitope-conservancy and property-based peptide similarity search by different allergen databases. Additionally, the in-silico predicted regions were compared with the experimentally validated epitopes of peach-LTP. Sequence-homology studies showed that chickpea and mung-bean LTPs shared significant homology, i.e., >70% and >60%, respectively, with other LTP allergens from lentil, garden-pea, peanut, etc. Phylogenetic-analysis also showed chickpea and mung-bean LTPs to be closely related to allergenic LTPs from lentil and peanut, respectively. Epitope-conservation analysis showed that two of the predicted B-cell epitopic regions in chickpea and mung-bean LTPs were also conserved in other allergenic LTPs from peach, peanut, garden-pea, lentil, and green-bean, and might serve as conserved B-cell epitopes of the LTP protein family. Property-distance index values for chickpea and mung-bean LTPs also showed that most of the epitopes shared similarity with the reported allergens like-lentil, peanut, apple, plum, tomato, etc. Present findings, may be explored for identification of probable allergenicity of novel LTPs, on the basis of the reported conserved B-cell epitopes, responsible for potential cross-reactivity.

An extensive survey of floristic of native and invasive weed species was carried out during 2016 to 2019 in the semiarid agro ecosystem of Baramati Tahsil, Dist- Pune (M.S.). About 18 dominant invasive weeds such as Ageratum, Alternanthera, Croton., Xanthium, Parthenium and Tridax were encroaching the natives, becoming a serious threat to the major crops of this area such as wheat, sorghum, pearl millet, mung bean, pigeon pea, chillies and tomato. Amongst these Croton bonplandianus was highly dominant and wide spreading. Hence, its allelopathic potential was investigated. The allelopathic influence of leaf and root leachates as well as extracts of Croton bonplandianus Bail. was examined on seed germination of mung bean (Vigna radiata L.). The germination assay revealed that allelopathic potential and other factors are responsible for its dominance and successful invasion. The allelopathic influence of rhizosphere soil and its aqueous leachates indicated that both are responsible for inhibiting the seed germination and seedling growth of mungbean. Both the experiments have clearly confirmed the allelopathic potential of Croton bonplandianus. The HPTLC analyses confirmed the existence of a broad groups of allelochemicals like terpenoides, steroids, flavonoids, pungent and bitter essential oils and phenolics in its leaves and roots, which confirmed its allelopathic potential. Further characterization of above mentioned allelochemicals is in progress.

In this study, an attempt was made to estimate the antioxidant activity of some popular Bangladeshi legumes by employing DPPH radical scavenging assay, total phenolic content (TPC), and ferric reducing antioxidant assay (FRAP). The extraction efficiency and total flavonoid content (TFC) of hyacinth bean (Lablab niger), kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), black gram (Vigna radiate), mung bean (Vigna mungo), and green pea (Pisum sativam) by different solvents were also examined. Extraction was done using 80% acetone, ethanol, and methanol as solvent. The maximum and minimum DPPH scavenging activity was shown by mung bean (27.67±1.53%) and Hyacinth bean (4.33±1.53%), respectively using ethanol as solvent. The highest and lowest FRAP value was recorded 89.60±0.80 μg AAE/mL for green pea and 35.11±1.39 μg AAE/mL for mung bean, respectively with ethanol solvent. For TPC, green pea with ethanol solvent showed the highest value (1045.92±21.30 mg GAE/100 g), and mung bean with ethanol solvent exhibited the lowest value (415.92±1.44 mg GAE/100 g). For TFC, black gram with ethanol solvent exhibited the highest value (342.21±3.05 mg QE/100 g), while mung bean with acetone solvent exhibited the lowest value (77.38±0.80 mg QE/100 g).

Pulses have distinct morpho-physiological response under reduced sunlight. But little is known for their capacity to adapt to the level of shading encountered in crop mixtures. Field experiment was conducted to evaluate the pulses under artificial shade during rainy season at Raichur, Karnataka. Objectives were to select potential pulse crop tolerant to shade based on productivity and radiation use efficiency (RUE). Experiment was laid out in split-plot design, wherein light intensity (unshade, 50 and 75% shade) in main plots and pigeon-pea, cowpea, lablab and black-gram were in sub plots. Shade levels were created by the erection of white shade nets at 25 DAS continued upto harvest. Results indicated that irrespective of the crop more pods, grain, stover and protein yield were recorded under unshade. While, pigeon-pea and lablab were produced significantly higher yield under unshade, however, these were also well performed under 50 per cent shade over black-gram and cowpea. However, seeds crude protein was higher in shaded plants compared to unshaded. Significantly higher RUE (2.22 gMJ-1) was recorded in pigeon-pea under 75 per cent shade and lowest in unshaded lablab (0.35 gMJ-1) and black-gram (0.40 g MJ-1). Results inferred that pigeon-pea and lablab were found tolerant to shade compared to cowpea and black-gram and may be suitable for crop mixtures cultivation.