Morphometric and Nutritional Characterization of the Main Spanish Lentil Cultivars

Javier Plaza, M. Remedios Morales-Corts, Rodrigo Pérez-Sánchez, Isabel Revilla and Ana M. Vivar-Quintana
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Javier Plaza: Plant Production Group, Faculty of Environmental and Agricultural Sciences, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain
M. Remedios Morales-Corts: Plant Production Group, Faculty of Environmental and Agricultural Sciences, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain
Rodrigo Pérez-Sánchez: Plant Production Group, Faculty of Environmental and Agricultural Sciences, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain
Isabel Revilla: Food Technology Group, Superior Polytechnic School of Zamora, University of Salamanca, 49022 Zamora, Spain
Ana M. Vivar-Quintana: Food Technology Group, Superior Polytechnic School of Zamora, University of Salamanca, 49022 Zamora, Spain

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 8, 1-14

Abstract: Nowadays, there is a growing demand for high-quality vegetal protein food products, such as pulses and lentils in particular. However, there is no scientific evidence on the nutritional and morphometric characterization of the main lentil cultivars in the Western Mediterranean area. For this reason, the aim of this work is to carry out a morphometric and nutritional characterization of the main Spanish lentil cultivars. Nutrient content assessment was performed on dry matter. The results showed that all studied cultivars are large and heavy lentils, except for the cultivar “Pardina”. They have high protein levels, ranging from 21% to 25%, which is higher than those found in any other pulse, as well as a high carbohydrate content, greater than 59% in all cases. Fiber content was higher than expected in “Armuña” and “Rubia Castellana” cultivars, ranging from 6% to 6.6%, and exceptionally high in the case of the cultivar “Pardina”, which reached 7.8%. Conversely, very low values were found for fat content, varying between 0.5% and 0.9%. Ca, Fe and Mg levels were remarkably higher (from 550 ppm to 851 ppm, from 98 ppm to 139 ppm and from 790 ppm to 989 ppm, respectively) than those found for other lentil cultivars, especially the high Mg content in the cultivars “Jaspeada” and “Microjaspeada”, both above 955 ppm. Clear differentiation was found between the cultivars “Rubia Castellana”, “Pardina” and those included in the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) “Lenteja de la Armuña”. Overall, lentil cultivars included in the PGI “Lenteja de la Armuña” showed better morphometric and nutritional characteristics than cultivars “Pardina” or “Rubia Castellana”.

Keywords: Lens culinaris; morphological characteristics; chemical composition; quality mark; protein intake (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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