Legume Genomics and Genetics - page 4

Legume Genomics and Genetics 2015, Vol.6, No.2, 1-7
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Research Report Open Access
Evaluation of Iron, Zinc, and Protein Contents of Common Bean (Phaseolus
vulgaris L.) Genotypes: ACollection from Jammu & Kashmir, India
Reetika Mahajan1, Sajad Majeed Zargar1 , Aziz Mujtaba Aezum2, Sufia Farhat1, Mudasir Gani3, Aftab Hussain I.S4,
Ganesh Kumar Agrawal5, Randeep Rakwal5,6
1. School of Biotechnology, S K University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Chatha, Jammu, J&K-180009, India
2. Department of Soil Science, MRCFC, Khudwani, S K University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar, J&K-192101, India
3. Division of Entomology, S K University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Chatha, Jammu, J&K-180009, India
4. Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore-65, India
5. Research Laboratory for Biotechnology and Biochemistry (RLABB), Kathmandu, Nepal
6. Organization for Educational Initiatives, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan
Corresponding author email: Email: smzargar@gmail.com
Legume Genomics and Genetics, 2015, Vol.6, No.2 doi: 10.5376/lgg.2015.06.0002
Received: 04 Jan., 2015
Accepted: 15 Feb., 2015
Published: 26 Feb., 2015
Copyright © 2015 Mahajan et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Mahajan et al., 2015, Evaluation of Iron, Zinc, and Protein Contents of Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Genotypes: A collection from Jammu &
Kashmir, India, Legume Genomics and Genetics, Vol.6, No.2, 1-7 (doi: 10.5376/lgg.2015.06.0002)
Abstract Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris. L), is the most important legume crop, rich in high-quality protein, energy, fiber and
micronutrients especially iron, zinc, and pro-vitamin A. High genetic diversity is known to exist among bean genotypes for
micronutrient densities. Considering these facts and the status of micronutrient malnutrition in the developing countries, we have
evaluated the seeds of 51 common bean genotypes collected from different locations of Jammu and Kashmir, with the major
objective of identifying genotypes with high protein and micronutrient contents. Results revealed that the variation in the iron (Fe)
content was very high ranging from 0.71 mg to 7.22 mg 100g-1, and the zinc (Zn) content varied from 0.43 mg to 1.93 mg 100g-1.
The variation in protein content was also very high ranging from 7.2% to 31.6%. No correlation was found for Fe, Zn, and protein
contents. This variability implies that, the screened genotypes could serve as a source for breeding new varieties with improved
biochemical and nutritional traits and could be highly suited to meet specific dietary requirements.
Keywords Micronutrient; Malnutrition; Fe; Zn; Protein; Common bean
Introduction
Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is
predominantly a self-pollinated crop originating in
Latin America and mostly cultivated in the tropics and
subtropics as well as in the temperate regions of the
world (Gepts and Bliss 1988; Zeven, 1997; Zeven et
al., 1999). Common bean represents 50% of the grain
legume consumed worldwide, and is thus considered
as the most important legume crop (McConnell et al.,
2010). This crop is grown for its dry beans, and
immature green pods. Being a good and cheap source
of protein (20‐ 28%), minerals like Fe (70 mg/kg)
and Zn (33 mg/kg), energy (32%), and fiber (56%)
can solve malnutrition and hunger-related problems.
Large variability among bean genotypes for
micronutrient densities is known to exist (Beebe et al.,
2000; Tryphone and Nichumbi-Msolla, 2010). In
countries where daily bean consumption is high, it
provides significant amount of proteins, calories and
micronutrients helping to avoid the consequences of
malnutrition and hunger (Valdemiro and Whitaker,
1982). Common bean is considered as an important
functional food because of its high levels of
chemically diverse components (phenols, starch,
vitamins, fructo-oligosaccharides) which give
protection against oxidative stresses, cardiovascular
diseases, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and many
types of cancers (Camara et al., 2013). Loss of crop
diversity and extinction of genetic resources have led
to a deterioration of nutritional quality of food crops
(Gouveia et al., 2011; Singh, 2001). Micronutrients
like Fe and Zn play an important role in the
metabolism of both plants and animals. Iron
deficiency anemia (IDA) and other micronutrient
deficiencies affect large number of people worldwide
and in many parts of Africa and Latin America it is the
top health concern especially among the poor
(Graham et al., 2001). Worldwide, over three billion
people are affected by IDA while zinc deficiency in
the human diet is probably almost as widespread as
iron deficiency (Frossard et al., 2000). IDA causes
loss in work productivity and complications in child