Towards enhancing lutein concentration in chickpea, cultivar and management effects

Abstract

Staple food fortification is a rational and economic way to improve the health status of poor income consumers. Lutein is an important antioxidant, and its intake is associated with lower risk of macular degeneration (blindness). We studied the scope to improve lutein concentration in chickpea grains by routine farming practices including tillage, and phosphorus and potassium fertilization. In addition, the association between lutein concentration and grain weight was investigated. The genetic (cultivar) effect on lutein concentration greatly exceeded the husbandry effects. High-lutein concentration in chickpea grains was recessive to low-lutein concentration. High-lutein concentration in the studied material was associated with low-grain weight, similar to results obtained from crosses involving wild chickpea. Breeding large seeded chickpea with enhanced lutein concentration may be difficult due to the association of lutein promoting alleles with low-grain weight alleles. However, our results confirm that chickpea grain lutein concentration trait is relatively stable, due to strong genetic control. Therefore, high-lutein cultivars are likely to maintain their performance even when grown under diverse field conditions.

Genetic diversity of nutritionally important carotenoids in 94 pea and 121 chickpea accessions

“…Lutein was the predominant carotenoid in both pea and chickpea. Similar results were observed in previous studies in pea (McCallum et al, 1997;Holasová et al, 2009;Marles et al, 2013), chickpea (Abbo et al, 2005(Abbo et al, , 2010, and wheat (Adom et al, 2003;Hidalgo et al, 2006;Ramachandran et al, 2010). Mean lutein concentration of the pea accessions ranged from 5.6 mg g À1 to 24 mg g À1 which is greater than the previously reported of 7 mg g À1 in yellow cotyledon pea, and 8 mg g À1 to 14 mg g À1 in green cotyledon pea (Holasová et al, 2009).…”

“…Mean lutein concentration of chickpea in this research ranged from 5.3 mg g À1 to 21.5 mg g À1 was higher than the concentrations (2.8-6.2 mg g À1 ) previously reported (Abbo et al, 2010). Average bcarotene concentration of the chickpea accessions was 0.5 mg g À1…”

“…To date, only limited research has been reported related to carotenoids in pea and chickpea seeds using HPLC analysis. Previously, lutein, zeaxanthin and b-cryptoxanthin were reported in chickpea seed (Abbo et al, 2005, Abbo et al, 2010, whereas violaxanthin, lutein, and bcarotene were reported in cotyledons and seed coats of field pea (McCallum et al, 1997;Holasová et al, 2009). Lutein was reported as the major carotenoid in chickpea (Abbo et al, 2005(Abbo et al, , 2010, pea (McCallum et al, 1997;Holasová et al, 2009;Marles et al, 2013) and wheat (Adom et al, 2003;Hidalgo et al, 2006;Ramachandran et al, 2010).…”

“…Pea (Pisum sativum L.) and chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) are excellent sources of protein, slowly digestible starch, and dietary fibre (Duranti, 2006), and good sources of minerals including iron, calcium, zinc (Thavarajah and Thavarajah, 2012), folates (Rychlik et al, 2007;Hefni et al, 2010;Gupta et al, 2013), as well as carotenoids (Abbo et al, 2005(Abbo et al, , 2010Marles et al, 2013). Carotenoids are natural pigments synthesized from plants.…”

Identification and Expression Analysis of Candidate Genes Involved in Carotenoid Biosynthesis in Chickpea Seeds

“…However, in Golden Rice2 the carotenoid concentration increased up to 23-fold (37 μg g −1 dry weight) compared to the original one (Paine et al, 2005). Carotenoid concentration is a trait with high heritability that mostly influenced by genetic (cultivar), and the effect of environment is not substantial for all carotenoid types (Abbo et al, 2010; Owens et al, 2014). Lutein is the main carotenoid type in chickpea (Abbo et al, 2005, 2010) and wheat (Ramachandran et al, 2010).…”