Characteristics of the Underutilised Pulse Bambara Groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.) Relevant to Food & Nutritional Security ^†

Abstract

Underutilised crops contribute only marginally to global food and nutritional security, despite their regional nutritional, economic, and cultural significance. Their potential to make a greater contribution is often overlooked, in part due to the scarcity of data reflecting the range of nutritional variation. Bambara groundnut (BG; Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.), a pulse native to West Africa has been proposed as an exemplar underutilised crop. We analysed variation in the major nutritional components of 100 BG accessions of diverse geographical origins and compared these values with representatives of four related pulse crops. We found considerable intra-species variation for major components: 13.8–26.4% protein, 4.6–8.2% oil, 0.9–12.9% total dietary fibre, and 47.8–71.4% available carbohydrate. The range in seed protein and oil concentrations was similar to that measured in chickpea and mungbean. Linoleic (C18:2, n-6) accounted for up to 48% of total fatty acids in BG seed oil, and oleic (C18:1, n-9) up to 28%, with palmitic (C16:0) representing the other major component. Principal component analysis indicated that oleic, behenic (C22:0) and lignoceric (C24:0) acids are strongly associated with seed oil concentration. These data were obtained from material where there has been no systematic selection for enhancement of nutritional composition. The range of variation suggests that there is potential within the BG genepool to develop distinct sets of high-protein, high-oil cultivars. With the addition of more detailed genomic information, BG could benefit from similar breeding approaches that have been successfully adopted for crops such as cowpea and soybean.