Moth Bean Research Articles

Role of front line demonstration on transfer of moth bean production technologies in Barmer district of Rajasthan

Role of front line demonstration on transfer of moth bean production technologies in Barmer district of Rajasthan

Physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses of thermotolerance in moth bean (Vignaaconitifolia (Jacq.) Marechal)

Among several abiotic stresses, heat stress has a large negative impact upon agricultural productivity worldwide. Moth bean ( Vigna aconitifolia (Jacq.) Marechal) attracts a great deal of attention due to its better performance under drought and heat stress conditions. An experiment was designed to find out the effects of heat stress on relative water content (RWC), membrane stability index (MSI), and proline, protein, and chlorophyll (Chl) contents using 10 genotypes of moth bean. Physiological and biochemical parameters indicated that RMO 40 followed by Jadia, IC 36157, Jwala, and Marumoth were heat-tolerant (HT) genotypes, and IC 121051, IC 36392, IC 39702, IC 472257, and IC 140725 were heat-susceptible (HS) genotypes of moth bean. Under heat stress, the HT genotypes showed minimal reduction in RWC, MSI, and protein as compared to the susceptible ones, revealing that the HT genotypes performed well under heat stress. Many heat shock proteins and dehydration proteins are synthesized in plants under heat stress. Expression analysis of three such genes was performed in ten genotypes of moth bean. The analysis revealed that the HT genotypes showed better performance under stress conditions for survival. The above studied parameters would be very useful in the identification of HT varieties for future breeding programs in moth bean and related Vigna species.

Identification of genes associated with stress tolerance in moth bean [Vigna aconitifolia (Jacq.) Marechal], a stress hardy crop.

Moth bean is the most drought and heat tolerant cultigens among Asian Vigna. We performed comparative transcriptome analysis of moth bean cultivar "Marumoth" under control and stress condition. De novo transcriptome assembly was carried out by using Velvet followed by Oases softwares. Differential expression analyses, SSR identification and validation and mapping of pathways and transcription factors were conducted. A total of 179,979 and 201,888 reads were generated on Roche 454 platform and 48,617,205 and 45,449,053 reads were generated on ABI Solid platform for the control and stressed samples. Combined assembly from Roche and ABI Solid platforms generated 16,090 and 15,096 transcripts for control and stressed samples. We found 1287 SSRs and 5606 transcripts involved in 179 pathways. The 55 transcription factor families represented 19.42% of total mothbean transcripts. In expression profiling, ten transcripts were found to be up-regulated and 41 down-regulated while 490 showed no major change under moisture stress condition. Stress inducible genes like Catalase, Cyt P450 monooxygenase, heat shock proteins (HSP 90 and HSP 70), oxidoreductase, protein kinases, dehydration responsive protein (DRP), universal stress protein and ferridoxin NADH oxidoreductase genes were up-regulated in stressed sample. Genes which might be involved in moisture stress tolerance in moth bean were identified and these might be useful for stress tolerance breeding in moth bean and other related crops.

Development of non-dairy fermented probiotic drink based on germinated and ungerminated cereals and legume

In the present study probiotic drinks were developed using germinated and ungerminated seeds of barley, finger millet and moth bean. All three grains were washed, soaked, germinated, dried; both germinated and ungerminated grains were roasted, grinded and mixed in the ratio of 2.5:1.5:1 (barley: finger millet: moth bean) with sugar and cardamom. The drink mixtures were added to distilled water and milks like soy, almond and coconut in different concentrations (0 g, 2 g, 4 g, 6 g and 8 g). Drink mixtures were inoculated with Lactobacilli acidophilus, a probiotic bacterium. Physicochemical analysis like pH, acidity, bacterial enumeration and antioxidant activity were carried out, along with the evaluation of organoleptic properties. Fermentation with L. acidophilus starter culture improved the overall acceptability and functional properties of beverage during fermentation. Changes in the pH and acidity, bacterial count, DPPH assay and polyphenol content were increased as the concentration of drink mixture increased in three different milk and distilled water. In sensory evaluation it was found that the coconut milk based probiotic drink scored highest than the water, soymilk, almond milk probiotic drink. The overall acceptance score of 4 g drink mixture in probiotic drink was highest among all the drink mixture concentration.

Mothbean: A Potential Summer Crop for the Southern Great Plains

Low nutritive value of available warm-season grasses during July through September limits the production of yearling stocker cattle in the southern Great Plains (SGP). There has been a continual exploration of species with the capacity to provide high quality forage during summer. Mothbean (Vigna aconitifolia [Jacq.] Marechal), a short-duration, drought tolerant crop is a promising choice for the SGP. This preliminary study evaluated the potential of mothbean as a summer crop for forage, grain or green manure. Results of this study with 10 mothbean lines from a range of geographic locations suggested that crop could be harvested 100 days after planting with dry biomass yield range of 7.3 - 18.1 Mg·ha-1. Mothbean forage contained 10.8% - 14.6% crude protein (CP), 32.0% - 41.7% neutral detergent fiber (NDF), 20.7% - 29.6% acid detergent fiber (ADF), and 73% - 84% in vitro true digestibility (IVTD) at maturity. Grain yield of the 10 mothbean lines varied from 91 to 1040 kg·ha-1. The 10 tested lines generated a high amount of nitrogen (N) rich biomass at maturity with total accumulated N of 163 - 316 kg·ha-1 and a C:N ratio of 16:1 to 22:1. Overall, performance indicators suggested that mothbean has considerable potential as an alternative crop for production of forage, grain, or green manure when grown as summer crop in rotation with winter wheat. Future research should focus on evaluating mothbean within different crop settings to define its capacity as green manure or summer forage to support production of stocker cattle in the SGP.

Assessment of Proximate, Vitamins, Minerals and Anti-nutrients Compositions of Unprocessed Vigna aconitifolia (Moth Bean) Seeds

Assessment of Proximate, Vitamins, Minerals and Anti-nutrients Compositions of Unprocessed Vigna aconitifolia (Moth Bean) Seeds

Heat treatment affects regeneration, protein expression and genetic make-up of Vigna aconitifolia (Jacq.) Marechal

Abstract High temperature affects diverse physiological, biochemical and molecular processes including gene expression and genetic stability. To demostrate this, primary leaves of moth bean were harvested from eight days old seedlings followed by heat shock treatment at 37, 42, 47 and 52 °C for 10, 20 and 30 min. The response of tissue for callusing was comparatively early in explants treated at 37, 42 and 47 °C for 10 min. However, regeneration was negatively affected by most of the heat treatments. A few polypeptides were found to be up regulated as well as down regulated with heat shock treatments. Some proteins were specifically regulated at higher temperatures of 42° and 47 °C. Two polypeptides were also up regulated in the protein profiling of callus; however, these were different than the once observed in protein profiling of leaf explant immediately after heat treatment. Moreover, these bands were found in only one treatment each, viz. one in 20 min of 47 °C (100 kD) and another in 30 min of 47 °C (36.7 kD). These may be expected to be consequence of genetic change (mutation). RAPD analysis further revealed that plantlets obtained at 47 °C generated a novel band indicating mutagenic effect of heat shock treatment.

Diversity of Potential Orphan Plants in Health Management and Climate Change Mitigation from Bahraich (Uttar Pradesh), India

Crop species which are adapted to hot and dry climates will become increasingly important as the world worms. The Krikhouse Trust* supporting research and education in the biological Sciences is devoted for agricultural crop improvement for the relief of poverty, with a focus on legumes. The trust has supported research on legumes because of their importance in providing high quality protein in the diets of resource-poor farmers. Among these crops are many stress tolerant legume species found in India and Africa, which are relatively minor and neglected crops. A new programme called “Stress Tolerant Orphan Legumes” (STOL) for KT aims to support systematic studies of their potential to address the loss of agricultural productivity in areas of the globe that are suffering the greatest climate stresses. There are clear signs that climate change is already having severe effects on the agriculture where several crops are failing as result of the changed climate. In addition to direct effects of heat and drought on crops, the country is suffering soil loss due to increase in desert area per year. Over grazing, intensive cultivation, removal of tree cover, poor water management have all been as a reasons for this loss which cannot be compensated by any means. One more versatile fact remains that large tracts of land are being taken out of production for different types of constructions by the governments for the people as well as by the people for their settlements in urban areas. There are three possible ways to mitigate this looming disaster. First one is the adoption of stress tolerant legume species which may help farmers to fight the ravages of climate stress: production of grain to feed the family and also provide income; fodder and forage to livestock; ground cover as remedy for soil degradation. For this reason there should be a diversity of species where some crops may prove to be multipurpose, providing grain and fodder, forage and other crops may be specialized for other function such as soil remediation. In this study, only twelve orphan legumes are taken, viz., Cajanus cajan, Lablab purpureus, Macrotyloma uniflorum, Phaseolus acutifolius, Phaseolus lunatus, Phaseolus vulgaris, Tylosema esculentum, Vigna aconitifolia, Vigna radiata, Vigna subterranean, Vigna umbillata, Vigna unguiculata for their potential of climate stress mitigation, ethno-botanical and ethno-medicinal uses.

Physicochemical, morphological, thermal and pasting characteristics of starches from moth bean (Vigna aconitifolia) cultivars grown in India: an underutilized crop.

This is a first kind of study on genotype diversity of starches of Moth Bean an underutilized pulse of India. Physicochemical properties like amylose content (7.8-21.4%), swelling power (11-13.5g/g), solubility (5.9-9.0%) of starches were observed to differ significantly among the six moth bean starches. Swelling power of all the moth bean starches was observed to increase in the temperature range of 55-95°C. Scanning electron microscopy indicated polyhedral, irregular shape of granule. X-ray diffraction studies indicated a 'C' type crystalline structure and the starches differed significantly in relative crystallinity (17-34%) which affected significantly retro gradation tendencies of the starches. Peak viscosity of starches varied significantly and ranged between 4580 and 5087cP. Resistant starch content of starches also varied significantly among the cultivars and ranged between 57.3 and 75.6%.

Changes in phytic acid and iron content during germination and roasting of moth bean

Changes in phytic acid and iron content during germination and roasting of moth bean

MANAGEMENT OF PARTHENIUM HYSTEROPHORUS USING SUPPRESSIVE PLANTS

Parthenium hysterophorus; an invasive, noxious weed creates problem in field crops, pastures, waste lands and affects the fodder crops in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, province of Pakistan. P. hysterophorus secretes allelochemicals to suppress the growth of neighboring plants. However, some crops have the ability to suppress the growth of numerous weeds. For this purpose field experiments were conducted at two different locations having variable climatic conditions to manage P. hysterophorus through some suppressive plants. The study revealed that sorghum, buffel grass, millet and maize showed good suppressive ability of P. hysterophorus weed biomass as compared to control which produced higher biomass at both field sites. However, at lower altitude site i.e Swabi, the highest P. hysterophorus dry biomass (340.45 g m-2) was recorded in moth bean plots, while at high altitude site (Haripur), the maximum P. hysterophorus dry biomass (384.80 g m-2) was found in mung bean plots. Moreover, at both sites, the sorghum, buffel grass, millet and maize plants reduced the P. hysterophorus growth up to 84.0%, 79.0%, 70.2% and 67.5%, respectively. Whereas mung bean and moth bean were found poor suppressive plants to reduce the growth of P. hysterophorus. Furthermore, the competitive ability of P. hysterophorus with other plants were climatic condition dependent as this weed poorly compete with the tested plants in the warmer climatic condition at Swabi site than the cooler area at Haripur site. Thus, it is to concluded that sorghum and buffel grass are better option to manage P. hysterophorus in the fields infested with invasive P. hysterophorus. Keywords: Parthenium, suppressive fodder plants, competition

Crop production and economic loss due to wind erosion in hot arid ecosystem of India

Abstract Wind erosion is a severe land degradation process in hot arid western India and affects the agricultural production system. It affects crop yield directly by damaging the crops through abrasion, burial, dust deposition etc. and indirectly by reducing soil fertility. In this study, an attempt was made to quantify the indirect impact of wind erosion process on crop production loss and associated economic loss in hot arid ecosystem of India. It has been observed that soil loss due to wind erosion varies from minimum 1.3 t ha −1 to maximum 83.3 t ha −1 as per the severity. Yield loss due to wind erosion was found maximum for groundnut ( Arachis hypogea ) (5–331 kg ha −1 yr −1 ), whereas minimum for moth bean ( Vigna aconitifolia ) (1–93 kg ha −1 yr −1 ). For pearl millet ( Pennisetum glaucum ), which covers a major portion of arable lands in western Rajasthan, the yield loss was found 3–195 kg ha −1 yr −1 . Economic loss was found higher for groundnut and clusterbean ( Cyamopsis tetragonoloba ) than rest crops, which are about 191–12465 ha −1 depending on the severity of wind erosion. For mustard ( Brassica spp.) and wheat ( Triticum spp.) the economic loss was about 47–3181 ha −1 , whereas for pearl millet the economic loss was lowest ( 36–2294 ha −1 ). In this calculation only indirect impact of wind erosion in terms of reduction in soil fertility was considered. There is need of future research work for assessing the direct damage on crops by wind erosion process, addition of which may lead to higher magnitude of losses.

Evaluation of different modules on yield and yield attributes of mothbean (Vigna aconitifolia Jacq. ) marchel grown on light textured soil of Kachchh region

Evaluation of different modules on yield and yield attributes of mothbean (Vigna aconitifolia Jacq. ) marchel grown on light textured soil of Kachchh region

Effect of long-term cropping systems on soil organic carbon pools and soil quality in western plain of hot arid India

ABSTRACTMaintaining soil organic carbon (SOC) in arid ecosystem is important for soil productivity and restoration of deserted sandy soil in western plain of India. There is a need to understand how the cropping systems changes may alter SOC pools including total organic carbon (TOC), particulate organic C (POC), water soluble carbon (WSC), very labile C (VLC), labile C (LC), less labile C (LLC) and non-labile C (NLC) in arid climate. We selected seven major agricultural systems for this study viz., barren, fallow, barley–fallow, mustard–moth bean, chickpea–groundnut, wheat–green gram and wheat–pearl millet. Result revealed that conversion of sandy barren lands to agricultural systems significantly increased available nutrients and SOC pools. Among all studied cropping systems, the highest values of TOC (6.12 g kg−1), POC (1.53 g kg−1) and WSC (0.19 g kg−1) were maintained in pearl millet–wheat system, while the lowest values of carbon pools observed in fallow and barren land. Strong relationships (P < 0.05) were exhibited between VLC and LC with available nutrients. The highest carbon management index (299) indicates that wheat–pearl millet system has greater soil quality for enhancing crop productivity, nutrient availability and carbon sequestration of arid soil.

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Integrated use of phosphorus and organic matter improve fodder yield of moth bean (Vigna aconitifolia (Jacq.) under irrigated and dryland conditions of Pakistan

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the impact of phosphorus (30, 45 and 60 kg P ha-1) and organic matter (canola straw, berseem straw and farmyard manure) on growth and fodder yield of moth bean (Vigna aconitifolia Jacq.) under irrigated and dryland conditions. The experiment was conducted under two field conditions viz. (i) with irrigation and (ii) without irrigation (dryland). The experiment under each field condition was laid out in a randomized complete block design having three replications. The results revealed that P and organic matter treated plots (rest) under both irrigated and dryland conditions had better growth and produced higher fresh and dry fodder yields over control (no P and no organic matter applied). Moth bean planted under irrigated condition (no moisture stress) had improved growth, and produced higher fresh and dry fodder yields over dryland condition. Increasing the rate of P increased growth, fresh and dry fodder yields (60 kg P ha-1 &gt; 45 kg P ha-1 &gt; 30 kg P ha-1). Increase in growth, fresh and dry yields was obtained with the application of farmyard manure over plant residues incorporation. We concluded from this study that application of P at the highest rate of 60 kg P ha-1 along with farmyard manure (5 t ha-1) as source of OM improve growth and fodder yield of moth bean under irrigated and dryland conditions under semiarid climates.

Grain protein estimation and SDS-PAGE profilingof six important arid legumes

Grain protein content and protein profiles of six arid grain legumes belonging to three different tribes were studied. Average grain protein (per cent) of horse gram, cowpea, moth bean, guar, chickpea and green gram was 20.29, 22.8, 22.6, 20.6, 21.82, and 20.40 respectively. All the six arid legumes were clearly differentiated based on the protein banding patterns generated through SDS-PAGE. The molecular weight range of proteins in different legumes was observed to be ~16 to ~250kD. Interestingly, in chickpea, moth bean and horse gram proteins &gt;100kD were not mostly observed. Further, distinct proteins were observed indicating inter-varietal differences in horse gram (CRHG-19), cowpea (RC-101) and guar (HG-2-20), which could be useful in varietal identification. The different legumes were broadly clustered in to four clusters. Further, chickpea (Cicereae), green gram and cowpea (Phaseoleae) were clustered together. The similarity indexes of varieties and individual crops ranged from 0.667 to 0.950 and 0.425 to 0.821 respectively. Though the six legumes belong to Leguminosae they have distinct protein profiles which could be useful in species/varietal identification.

Biochemical composition of symplastic sap from sugarcane genetically modified to overproduce proline

Global interest in sugarcane has increased significantly in recent years because of its economic impact on sustainable energy production. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate changes in the concentrations of total sugars, amino acids, free proline, and total proteins by colorimetric analyses and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to perform a metabolic profiling of a water-soluble fraction of symplastic sap in response to the constitutive expression of a mutant Δ1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase (P5CS) gene from Vigna aconitifolia. However, there was not a significant increase in the free proline content in the sap of transgenic plants compared to the non-transformed control plants. The most noticeable difference between the two genotypes was an almost two-fold increase in the accumulation of sucrose in the stem internodes of P5CS transgenic sugarcane plants. The results presented in this work showed that transgenic sugarcane plants with increased levels of free proline accumulates high soluble sugar content and, therefore, may represent a novel genotype for improving sugarcane cultivars.

Effect of gamma irradiation on the nutritional and antinutritional qualities of Vigna aconitifolia (Jacq.) Marechal: An underutilized food legume

Abstract Effect of gamma irradiation on the nutritionally potent underutilized wild legume Vigna aconitifolia at various doses (2, 5, 10, 15 and 25 kGy) were assessed for its nutritional and antinutritional factors. Gamma irradiation significantly enhanced the crude protein content at all doses, while crude lipid, crude fibre and ash resulted in a significant dose-dependent decline. Raw seeds are rich in potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, manganese and vitamins (niacin and ascorbic acid); significant diminution was reported in irradiated seeds. The essential amino acids of raw and gamma irradiated seeds were comparable with the FAO/WHO recommended pattern. A significant dose -dependent increase in IVPD on irradiation was observed. High amount of saturated fatty acids decreased after irradiation. However, linoleic acid, palmitoleic acid and eicosenoic acid were increased after irradiation at 25 kGy. Irradiating the seeds with gamma rays significantly curtailed the levels of the toxic non-proteinaceous amino acid, L -DOPA, hydrogen cyanide, trypsin inhibitors, oligosaccharides and phytohaemagglutinins. The aromatic compound, phenols, the water soluble polyphenols and tannins showed a dose-dependent significant increase. The overall findings are the indications to improvise the nutritional traits of the gamma irradiated underutilized tribal pulse, V. aconitifolia which could be a good source of protein for human consumption.

Expression analysis in response to heat stress in moth bean (Vigna aconitifolia (Jacq.) Marechal)

Among abiotic stresses, heat stress has a large negative impact upon agricultural productivity worldwide. Moth bean (Vigna aconitifolia (Jacq.) Marechal) is attracting a great deal of attention due to its drought and heat stress tolerance nature although genotypic variability exists. Genotypes of moth bean were subjected to heat stress to reveal the pattern of expression of genes. Many heat shock proteins (HSPs) and Super oxide dismutase (MnSOD) are differentially regulated in plants subjected to heat stress. Twenty days-old moth bean seedlings were exposed to a temperature of 55°C for 30 minutes. Total RNA was extracted from stressed and control plants, proceed for qRT-PCR analysis. Heat shock protein (HSP70) and MnSOD were significantly up-regulated in Jwala, Jadia, Marumoth and RMO 40 genotypes of moth bean and down-regulated in genotypes with accession numbers, IC 121051, IC 36392, IC 140725 and IC 472257. This study would help in identifying heat tolerant varieties in moth bean and related Vigna species for future breeding programmes.