Pulses

Dear Colleagues,

As you very probably know, 2016 is the International Year of Pulses, declared during the 68^th United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/68/231), which aims to heighten public awareness of the nutritional benefits of pulses as relevant and indispensable component of a healthy dietary style.

Pulses belong to the subfamily Faboideae, included in the Fabaceae family, and represented an essential part of the human diet for centuries (the cutivation of some legumes dates back to 7000–8000 BC). Pulses also play an important role for sustainability: they are a main component of crop rotations, they require less fertilisers than other crops and they are a low carbon source of protein. Indeed, because of their nitrogen-fixing propertied, legumes are part of the rotational crops farmers can use to maintain soil fertility. In addition, pulses are a protein source with a low footprint, in both carbon and water, thus improving sustainable food production and indirectly reducing greenhouse gas emission. In nutrition, pulses are part of a healthy, balanced diet and have been shown to have an important role in preventing chronic-degenerative diseases such as certain types of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Therefore, they can be fully considered a ‘superfood’, source of protein, dietary fibre, minerals, vitamins, and bioactive phytochemicals, with low glycaemic index, gluten-free and zero cholesterol. Importantly, legumes are model organisms in botany and plant molecular biology, such as, for instance, Lotus and Medicago, used to study the symbiosis responsible for nitrogen fixation.

In this very wide context, we invite investigators to submit both original research and review articles that explore all these aspects. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Molecular Plant Biology
• Genetics
• Agronomy
• Plant Disease
• Crop Production
• Environmental Pollution
• Abiotic Stresses
• Sustainability
• Food Science
• Nutrition

Professor Marcello Iriti
Guest Editor

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