Proximate composition, mineral content, and fatty acids profile of two varieties of lentil seeds cultivated in Iran

Abstract

The objective of this research was to investigation the varietal effect on chemical composition, mineral content, energy value, and fatty acid profile of lentil seeds (Lens culinaris Medik., family Fabaceae) grown in Iran. Several chemical compositions, mineral contents, and energy values of the two different lentil seed varieties are presented in Table 1. As can be seen in Table 1, the lentil seeds are a good source of carbohydrate (59.01–61.5%) and are rich in protein (25.90–27.30%). The amounts of protein and carbohydrate present in green lentils were higher than in red lentils (p 0.05). The presence of the various mineral nutrients such as K, Ca, Mg, P, Fe, Zn, Mn, and Cu is of biochemical importance to the physiology of the seeds. In addition, they are an essential part of many important enzymes and they play roles as catalysts and antioxidants. For example, iron and copper are essential in blood formation and copper is involved in normal carbohydrate and lipid metabolism [2]. The difference in caloric value was significant between the varieties analyzed (p < 0.05). The means of the obtained energy values for red and green lentil seeds are 363.9 and 377.7 kcal/100 g, respectively. These findings are supported by the literature [3] for different genotypes of lentil. However, higher amounts of energy value have been reported in the literature [4], with the mean being 406.1 kcal/100 g. Moreover, the variation observed in the metabolizable energy value for both young chicks and adult birds between the two varieties of lentil was remarkable (p < 0.05). These values for young chicks varied from 364.5 to 377.9 kcal/100 g, and for adult birds from 374.3 to 387.8 kcal/100 g. Interestingly, the amounts of metabolizable energy for young chicks were very near the food energy values of lentil varieties. Mean values and standard deviations of the fatty acid composition are presented in Table 2. As illustrated in Table 2, the major fatty acids found in lentil oil are linoleic (46.81–49.11%), oleic (21.3–23.27%), palmitic (14.41–18.10%), and linolenic (8.20–11.25%) acids. The ratios of these fatty acids are considered important for their nutritional value.