Protein content in wild and cultivated taxa of lentil (Lens culinaris ssp. culinaris Medikus)

Abstract

The protein contents in 72 diverse accessions of lentil ranged from 10.5 to 23.7 % with an average of 18.7 % in varieties/breeding lines, 14.5 to 27.1 % with an average of 22.4 % in landraces of Mediterranean origin and 18.1 to 32.7 % with an average of 22.6 % in wild species. Significantly high protein content (32.7 %) was recorded in accession ILWL 47 belonging to Lens ervoides. The coefficient of variation and standard deviation in Mediterranean landraces (18.1 %) showed high protein contents as compared to varieties/breeding lines (16.9 %) and wild species (17.8 %). As per the Jaccard's similarity coefficient based on protein content 72 accessions were grouped into two main clusters. Cluster I possessed a solitary accession ILWL 47 while remaining accessions were grouped in cluster II, which was subdivided into sub cluster IIa with 48 genotypes and IIb comprising of 29 accessions of varieties/breeding lines, 16 of wild species and 3 landraces. The results indicated that Indian varieties/breeding lines are significantly different from Mediterranean landraces and wild species in respect of protein contents.

Genetic stability and genotype × environment interaction analysis for seed protein content and protein yield of lentil

“…Kumar et al. (2016) studied protein content on various species of lentil. They showed that protein content of cultivated lentils had an average of 18.7% (range of 10.5–23.7%) compared with the wild species, which had an average of 22.6% protein content.…”

“…Hawtin, Rachie, and Green (1977) reported a wider range, 23.4-36.4%, for protein content when a large set of germplasm (n = 1,688) was screened. Later, Kumar, Singh, Kanaujia, and Gupta (2016) also reported large variability of seed protein among the cultivated lentils. Seed protein of lentil is an important nutritional trait that has particular meaning for the food industry.…”

Seed Protein of Lentils: Current Status, Progress, and Food Applications

“…A subsequent evaluation reported an even wider range when a larger germplasm set (1816 accessions) was investigated [14]. Kumar et al [15] reported a lower average protein content for lentil with broader variability among lentil species.…”

“…However, a much wider range (18.1%–32.7%) for protein content was reported recently for L. orientalis , L. tomentosus , L. odemensis , L. ervoides , and L. nigricans . The highest protein content was found in the L. ervoides accession, ILWL 47, with 32.7% protein content [15]. L. ervoides accessions also showed the highest variation compared to other studied species.…”

“…For example, Barulina [12] and Hawtin et al [13] determined seed protein content in lentil accessions using a macro–Kjeldahl (Table 2). Recently, different versions of a modified Kjeldahl method were adopted to measure protein content in lentil seeds [15,17]. Although the Kjeldahl method was more precise and frequently used to analyze protein, this method is under threat by the challenge of safer, clearer, and faster instruments employed in the Dumas Combustion method [103] which resulted in faster, safer, and more reliable data for protein content in seeds compared to the Kjeldahl method.…”