Vegetable Legumes Research Articles

Growth, Yield and Nodule Activity of Phaseolus vulgaris L. as Affected by Soil Moisture

AbstractA study evaluated the response of two varieties of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) to different soil moisture levels during a dry season. The soil moisture regimes maintained throughout the growth period were field capacity, 70–75 %, 50–55 % or 20–25 % available soil moisture.Plant growth, yield and nodulation were optimal when plants grew at high soil moisture levels. With increasing stress, all measured parameters of both varieties were reduced. However, polebeans, with its vine type of growth was affected to a greater degree than bushbeans. In contrast, nodulation and nodule activity of both variables was affected by moisture stress.A second experiment evaluated the effects of different soil moisture levels over the growth cycle of bushbeans, which produce greater yields under drier conditions. The highest yields were obtained at higher moisture levels throughout the growth cycle. Moisture stress up to flowering reduced yields to a greater extent than when the plants were subjected to reduced soil moisture after flowering appearance. Some casual mechanisms of the results of the experiments and possible implications for incorporating this popular vegetable legume in rainfed agricultural systems are presented.

Evidence for the overestimation of molecular masses of proteins after chemical modification and chemical crosslinks on sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS‐PAGE)

Human trypsin inhibitor (home prepared), lactalbumin, trypsinogen, carbonic anhydrase, and bovine serum albumin were submitted to succinylation and their molecular masses were determined by SDS-PAGE according to the method of Weber and Osborn (1969 J. Biol. Chem. 244, 4406) before and after chemical modification. High estimates of their molecular masses were obtained. The monomer and dimer of arrowhead inhibitor proteinase-B (Chinese vegetable legume) obtained after chemical crosslink(s) were also submitted to SDS-PAGE and their apparent molecular masses were also determined and compared to the native arrowhead inhibitor proteinase-B. Abnormally high estimates of their molecular masses were obtained. Our results agree with those in the literature.

Effect of maturation on nutrient composition of selected vegetable legumes

AbstractFive legume vegetables harvested at the immature green and mature stages were analysed for weight and nutrient composition. In some types the seed weight increased up to seven‐fold in the last 10 days of maturation. The protein, fat, carbohydrate and thiamin contents increased on maturation. However, the proportional increase varied widely from 10 to 100 % in the case of protein and carbohydrates. The changes observed in the nutrient composition and weight of vegetable legume seeds in the last 10 days of maturation suggest that it is advantageous to harvest vegetable legumes when mature.

Isolation and characterization of the chemically cross-linked vegetable proteinase inhibitor B ( Sagittoria sagittifolia linn) by using bifunctional reagents and by high pressure liquid chromatography

1. 1. Proteinase inhibitor B from the root of the arrowhead vegetable legume has been cross-linked with DMA, DMS and EGS. The cross-linked AI-B with DMA resulted only in the monomer inhibitor, but with DMS and EGS, the dimer, trimer and a small amount of tetramer were obtained besides the monomer. 2. 2. Difficulty in the isolation and separation of monomer, dimer, trimer and tetramers of AI-B by classical column (TSK-2000-SW) on HPLC was encountered. The successful separation and isolation of monomer and dimer was obtained using an advanced column (Shim-Pack-Diol-300) for exclusion HPLC. 3. 3. The assay of inhibitory activity showed that the monomer and dimer had a much lower activity than the native AI-B. Furthermore, the monomeric activity was decreased more drastically than those of the dimeric. The circular dichroism (CD) spectra showed that the monomeric conformation had been changed, but the dimeric conformation had not.

Triterpene alcohols, methylsterols, sterols, and fatty acids in five Malagasy legume seed oils

This paper reports a study of the chemical composition of the neutral lipids which form 0.8-46.7% of five legumes (Arachis hypogea, Voandzei subterranea, Phaseolus lunatus, Lens esculentus, and Vigna sinensis). Fatty acid profiles revealed that the major acids were palmitic (13.9-31.5%) linoleic (30.9-46.4%), and oleic (5.5-40.0%). Unsaponifiable matter (1.09-3.67%) ,was examined for sterol, 4a-methyl sterol, and triterpene alcohol fractions. @-Sitosterol was the prominent component in four legumes (39.8-79.7%), while stigmasterol (41.7%) was the major component in V. sinensis. Campesterol, stigmasterol, and A5-avenasterol were detected in all samples. Among the 4a-methyl sterol fractions, obtusifoliol (9.5-39.5%), gramisterol (14.7-58.7%), and citrostadienol (8.1-47.6%) were the main components. Cycloartanol (3.0-26.4%), butyrospermol (1.4-59.1%), cycloartenol (1.4-22.4%), 24methylenecycloartano1(0.8-42%), and cyclobranol(1.0-14.4%) were the main compounds of the triterpene alcohol fractions. Leguminous seeds make an important contribution to the diet in many tropical countries. They are used as vegetables and are a good source of protein, lipid, and fatty acids for human nutrition. The fatty acid composition of the endogenous fats plays an important role in determining shelf life, nutrition, and flavor of food products. Although some values have already been presented on numerous foods (Brignoli et al., 1976) and legumes (Exler et al., 1977), data for some tropical vegetable legumes are rarely given. The nature of some Indian legume lipids was investigated by Mahadevappa and Raina (1978). Busson and Bergeret (1958) and Doku et al. (1978) have studied the chemical composition of Voandzei subterranea. A number of some tropical vegetable and subtropical vegetable oils have been analyzed for their unsaponifiable fractions, particularly sterols and methyl sterols. It was shown that campesterol, stigmasterol, @-sitosterol, A5-avenasterol, and Abtigmastenol were common constituents, @-sitosterol being the most prominent in the sterol fraction (Itoh et al., 1974a). Four sterol-containing lipid fractions were isolated from the chloroform-methanol-extracted lipids of cowpea (Vigna uguiculata) by Mahadevappa and Raina (1981). Generally 4a-methyl sterols are minor constituents of the unsaponifiable fractions and their separation from unsaponifiable matter is quite difficult. In common vegetable oils, 4a-methyl sterols were studied by Sawicki and Mordret (1970), Itoh et al. (1974b), and Jeong et al. (1975). Among the important legumes consumed in Madagascar, five of them are used commonly in this country. They are Arachis hypogea (var. Valencia), V. subterranea (or Glycine subterranea), Phaseolus lunatus (var. Inamoenus), Lens esculentus, and Vigna sinensis. Soybeans are becoming an important industrial legume for oil and protein production but are not, at this time, used very much by the population for human nutrition. This paper presents results on these five legumes consumed in Madagascar. This investigation was undertaken to obtain more information on the fatty acid composition

Major element uptake by snap bean grown in nutrient culture with varying nitrogen solution treatments

Abstract Snap bean (Phaseoius vulgaris L.) showed an increasing preference for NO3 with increasing total N and equal ratio of NO3 to NH4 when grown in nutrient culture. The percent increase in NO3 uptake over NH4 from solution was about the same as the increase in percent K content found in the plants at harvest. Peak periods of NO3 and NH4 uptake were observed, similar to what has been found for the other vegetable legumes.

The influence of N concentration and NO3/NH4ratio on the growth of lima and snap bean and southern field pea seedlings

Abstract Lima and snap beans and southern field peas were cultured in a modified Hoagland's solution for 14 days with N supplied as Ca(NO3)2 and/or (NH4)2SO4 at three N concentrations and five ratios of NO3 to NH4. The ratio of NO3/NH4, rather than the N concentrations influenced seedling growth of these vegetable legumes. Maximum seedling growth of lima bean was generally obtained with all combinations of NO3 and NH4. A preference for 75% NO3 and 25% NH4 was observed for snap bean. Southern field pea growth was reduced only when all of the N was supplied as 100% NH4. Ammonium toxicity symptoms, lesions and severe wilting, developed with snap bean and southern field pea within 14 days when cultured with 100% NH4. Lima bean, though reduced in growth, exhibited a tolerance to the 100% NH4 treatment.

Electrophoretic studies of soluble proteins and enzymes of sclerotinia species

An electrophoretic study of the proteins and isoenzymes of isolates of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary, S. trifoliorum Erikss. and S. minor Jagger was made to obtain further information on the taxonomie relationships of these fungi. Electrophoretic patterns for soluble proteins, aromatic esterase, acid phosphatase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (NADP), NADPH dehydrogenase and malate dehydrogenase (NAD) clearly distinguished three groups: (i) isolates producing small sclerotia which at the start of the investigation were regarded as S. minor ; (ii) isolates from forage legumes (lucerne) which form large sclerotia ; (iii) isolates which had been designated S. sclerotiorum and two isolates from crop legumes initially named S. trifoliorum on Sclerotium size. There were only very small intra-group differences. The isolates in the second group appeared to be intermediate between those in the other two groups. It is tentatively suggested that the name S. trifoliorum should be used for isolates from forage legumes, while those from vegetable legumes should be regarded as S. sclerotiorum . Isolates producing small sclerotia are distinct from both these species and may be called S. minor .