Evaluation of Lathyrus sativus L. seed for protein content and trypsin inhibitor activity

Abstract

Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) is a legume with high protein content and good quantities of essential amino acids. It has high tolerance to drought, high adaptability to extreme conditions, disease resistance and low input requirement for cultivation, which makes it very useful for cultivation by resource-poor farmers. Potential usage of grass pea is limited due to the presence of anti-nutritional factors including protease inhibitors, especially trypsin inhibitors. They have a major impact on nutritional value, by inhibiting pancreatic serine proteases (thus impairing protein digestion), but are also likely to protect legume seed against attack by predators. Although once extensively grown throughout Balkan Peninsula, grass pea was nearly forgotten. In recent years there was an effort to reintroduce and increase the interest of researchers and farmers in this crop. The aim of this study was to establish whether genotype and environment have significant influences on trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA) in grass pea and to determine whether TIA is correlated with seed protein content.