Pulse Diversity for Polyphenolic Secondary Metabolites.

The pulse species including guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L. Taub.), Lablab purpureus L. Sweet, Macrotyloma uniflorum (Lam.) Verdc., Teramnus labialis (L.f.) Spreng, alfalfa Medicago sativa (L.) ssp. sativa], green beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), fava beans (Vicia faba L.), blackeye pea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. ssp. unguiculata forma group unguiculata], mung bean [V. radiata (L.) R. Wilczek], soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv. Zolfino), red kidney bean (P. vulgaris L.), pinto bean (P. vulgaris L.), white bean (P. vulgaris L.), green peas (Pisum sativum L.), and black cowpea [V. unguiculata (L.) Walp. ssp. sinensis] were subjected to a meta-analysis for specific polyphenolic flavonoids. Flavonoids have been shown to have anti-cancer potential. The flavonoid data from all species were subjected to a cluster and principal component meta-analysis. The cluster analysis showed 11 distinct clusters for flavonoid content in the 17 species. The guar accessions showed 4 clusters with the highest flavonoid concentrations (ranging from 71 to 181 mg/100g). The Teramnus labialis accessions showed 3 clusters with the next highest flavonoid concentrations (ranging from 21 to 50 mg/100g). All other species produced very low flavonoid concentrations (ranging from 0.26 to 6.43 mg/100g. The principal component analysis showed that the first, second, and third components accounted for 30, 54, and 74% of the total variation. The guar and T. labialis accessions produced numerically higher flavonoid concentrations relative to the other 15 species.