Comparative Analysis of Perennial and Annual Phaseolus Seed Nutrient Concentrations

Heather E. Schier, Kathrin A. Eliot, Sterling A. Herron, Lauren K. Landfried, Zoë Migicovsky, Matthew J. Rubin and Allison J. Miller
Additional contact information
Heather E. Schier: Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Saint Louis University, 3437 Caroline Street, St. Louis, MO 63104, USA
Kathrin A. Eliot: Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Saint Louis University, 3437 Caroline Street, St. Louis, MO 63104, USA
Sterling A. Herron: Department of Biology, Saint Louis University, 3507 Laclede Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63103, USA
Lauren K. Landfried: Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Saint Louis University, 3437 Caroline Street, St. Louis, MO 63104, USA
Zoë Migicovsky: Department of Plant, Food, and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, NS B2N 5E3, Canada
Matthew J. Rubin: Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, 975 North Warson Road, St. Louis, MO 63132, USA
Allison J. Miller: Department of Biology, Saint Louis University, 3507 Laclede Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63103, USA

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 10, 1-18

Abstract: Long-term agricultural sustainability is dependent in part on our capacity to provide productive, nutritious crops that minimize the negative impacts of agriculture on the landscape. Perennial grains within an agroforestry context offers one solution: These plants produce large root systems that reduce soil erosion and simultaneously have the potential to produce nutrients to combat malnutrition. However, nutrient compositions of wild, perennial, herbaceous species, such as those related to the common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris ) are not well known. In this study, seed ion and amino acid concentrations of perennial and annual Phaseolus species were quantified using ionomics and mass spectrometry. No statistical difference was observed for Zn, toxic ions (e.g., As) or essential amino acid concentrations (except threonine) between perennial and annual Phaseolus species. However, differences were observed for some nutritionally important ions. For example, Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, and P concentrations were higher in annual species; further, ion and amino acid concentrations appear to be largely independent of each other. These results suggest variability in ion and amino acid concentrations exist in Phaseolus . As new crop candidates are considered for ecological services, nutritional quality should be optimized to maximize nutrient output of sustainable food crops.

Keywords: perennial crops; legumes; nutrient analysis; ionomics; proteomics; agroforestry; regenerative agriculture; sustainable food system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/10/2787/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/10/2787/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:10:p:2787-:d:231448

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().