Legumes

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Legumes
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David S. Seigler Department of Plant
BiologyUniversity of IllinoisUrbana, Illinois
61801 USAseigler_at_life.illinois.eduhttp//www.l
ife.illinois.edu/seigler
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Legumes - Outline

• Importance
• all cultures - ancient - e.g., lentils
• fix nitrogen
• Botanical
• Fabaceae
• fruit a legume or pod
• Properties
• physical
• nutritional
• protein must be detoxified
• steps in domestication, indehiscent
• pods

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• Major legumes
• Near East
• lentils
• garbanzos
• broad beans
• peas
• New World
• Phaseolus spp.
• peanuts

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• China
• soybeans (Glycine max)
• Vigna spp.
• Africa
• Vigna unguiculata
• pigeon peas

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Reading

• Chapter 6 - Legumes
• seeds of members of the Fabaceae
• p. 137-138

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Introduction

• Second only to the grasses in their importance to
  humans and our domestic animals.
• Every major civilization has been based on a
  legume as well as a cereal grain.
• Legumes are by definition all members of the
  Fabaceae or Leguminosae.
• This is a large family with perhaps 18,000
  species.

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Courtesy Dr. Ted Hymowitz
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The legume

• The Fabaceae consists of three subfamilies.
• Almost all important crop legumes are in the
  subfamily Faboideae (Papilionoideae).
• Fruit a legume. Commonly known as "pods".
• A single carpel that splits along two
  longitudinal margins at maturity to release its
  seeds.

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• Many important legumes in table on page 143.
• Diagram of legume flowers and fruits p. 137-138.
• World production... see page 144.

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Nitrogen fixation

• The roots of most legumes form associations with
  bacteria that can fix atmospheric nitrogen.
• These Rhizobium species live in nodules on the
  roots.
• They provide free fertilizer.
• Flowering plants cannot use atmospheric nitrogen
  but must absorb nitrate or ammonium nitrogen
  through the roots.
• Nitrogen cycle on pg. 140.

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Nodules on Lupinus texensis roots
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Nutritional value

• Legumes rich in protein (nitrogen).
• See table on pg. 142 for nutritional composition.
• Many are in the 20-30 range.
• Legumes also contain some fats but usually less
  starches than cereal grains.

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Nutritional value

• Amino acid composition different from that of
  cereal grains.
• Legume seeds have more of some amino acids than
  cereal grains.
• Seeds of almost all legumes are toxic if eaten
  uncooked because of proteins or peptides that
  inhibit digestive enzymes.

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Important points

• Legumes fix nitrogen
• Legumes rich in protein
• Legumes easily stored and harvested

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Ancient cultivars

• Near East and Europe peas, broad beans,
  lentils, and garbanzos.
• New World common beans, lima beans, and peanuts
• South East Asia and China soy beans, mung beans
  (Vigna aureus) and adjuki bean (Vigna mungo).
• Africa black-eyed pea, pigeon pea.

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Domestication of legumes

• Lentils are one of oldest domesticated legumes
• Wild small-seeded legumes used.
• By 6000 B.C., lentils, peas, vetch (Vicia sp.),
  bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia), and garbanzos were
  already cultivated.
• In Africa Vigna by 2000 B.C.
• In the Americas, Phaseolus coccineus in Tamps. by
  5000 B.C. wild harvested.

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• By 4000 B.C., P. vulgaris and P. lunatus were
  cultivated in Peru.
• Many domesticated legumes have lost the ability
  to reseed themselves.
• Pods of cultivars are indehiscent.

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Lentils (Lens culinaris)

• Among the most ancient of cultivated crops.
• 8000-9000 years in the Near East.
• Lentils found in archaeological sites before
  that, but as is the case for cereal grains, it is
  difficult to sort out what is cultivated and what
  is not.

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Lentils (Lens culinaris)

• Lentils especially high in protein.
• Lentils drought resistant.
• By 2200 B.C., they appear in Egyptian tombs.

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Lentils, Lens culinaris
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• Lentils particularly important in India today.
  Many different kinds of "dhal".
• In the U.S. mostly cultivated in Washington and
  Idaho in the Palouse Prairies.

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Peas (Pisum sativum)

• Peas are also an extremely old crop from the Near
  Eastern center.
• Peas go back at least 9000 years.
• They may have also come from Ethiopia and Central
  Asia.

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Peas (Pisum sativum)

• In the Middle Ages in Europe, dried peas made up
  a major part of the diet of peasants.
• Still very important there, especially in Eastern
  Europe.
• People didn't eat "green peas" until about the
  1700's.
• Peas are the fourth most important legume crop
  world wide.

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Peas, Pisum sativum and Garbanzos, Cicer
arietinum
The Complete Book of Fruits Vegetables, F.
Bianchini, F. Corbetta, M. Pistola, Crown
Publishers, New York, 1973
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Pea fields in Washington
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Broad beans (Vicia faba)

• Broad beans domesticated in the Near Eastern
  Center.
• Cultivation of these beans goes back to
  Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks.
• The only common bean in Europe before 1492.
• Production spread to Asia at some time in the
  past and today China is the world's largest
  producer of broad beans.

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Broad beans (Vicia faba)

• The Spanish brought broad beans (habas) to the
  New World.
• Grow best in a cool climate. Canada produces more
  than the U.S.
• Cause a genetic disorder "favism" in some people
  that eat them.

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Broad beans, Vicia faba
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Garbanzos or chick peas, Cicer arietinum

• Also from Near Eastern Center (Northeast Africa).
• Cultivated 7400 years ago.
• By 2000 B.C. introduced into India.
• India now grows 79 of world's crop.
• Brought to the New World by the Spanish and
  Portuguese.

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Garbanzos, Cicer arietinum, Fabaceae
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Soybeans (Glycine max)

• Soybeans arose in China.
• Cultivated at least 7000 years ago.
• In Chinese literature before 1000 B.C.

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Soybeans (Glycine max)

• About 38 protein and 18 fats and oils.
• The amino acid content is especially good.
• Serve as a source of edible oils.
• In the Orient, soybeans are eaten in many
  different ways.
• Converted to miso, tofu, okara, soy milk, soy
  sauce, curd, cheeses, and greens (sprouts).

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Glycine max, soybean, in flower
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soybeans
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Soybean harvest
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Variation in soybeans
National Geographic
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• Although soybeans were introduced to Europe quite
  early, they never became popular.
• In Pennsylvania by 1804. Benjamin Franklin was
  sent a sample of seeds and both he and Thomas
  Jefferson grew them.
• Until 1940's never common in the United States.

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• Coagulated soy protein called tofu.
• Most of the U.S. soybean crop is consumed
  indirectly.
• Over half of our production is exported.
• Much is used in this country as "texturized
  vegetable protein".
• About 15 of crop used for industrial purposes.
• Soy beans are the most important bean crop in the
  world.

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Pigeon peas (Cajanus cajan)

• Pigeon peas (gandules) commonly cultivated in the
  Caribbean area.
• Native to Africa and introduced into New World by
  black slaves.
• Cultivated perhaps 4000 years in Africa.
• Widely cultivated in India, which grows 95 of
  the world's crop.
• Pigeon peas do well on poor soils.

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Pigeon peas, Cajanus cajan
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Black-eyed peas, Vigna unguiculata

• Black-eyed peas also domesticated in Africa and
  brought to the Americas by black slaves.
• Other species of the genus are widely cultivated
  in Asia.
• These or related species were in India by
  "Sanskrit times". Romans and Greeks knew them.
• In the U.S., mostly grown in Texas, Georgia,
  Oklahoma, and the Carolinas

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Asian Vigna species

• Many species of Vigna were domesticated and
  cultivated in Asia.
• Black gram or urd bean (Vigna mungo).
• Mung bean (V. aureus)
• Adjuki bean (V. angularis) (and others).
• Usually included in "bean" statistics.

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Adjuki bean, Phaseolus mungo
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Lima bean, Phaseolus lunatus

• Lima beans may have been independently
  domesticated in Mexico and in northern South
  America.
• Appear to have spread southward into other parts
  of South America.
• The oldest cultivated materials are from Peru
  (7000-10000 years old).

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Lima bean, Phaseolus lunatus

• In 1492, cultivated from Canada to Argentina.
• Usually perennials in the tropics.
• Many lima beans are highly toxic unless prepared
  properly.
• This is not true in the United States and Europe,
  however.

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Primitive lima beans
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Lima beans from San Juan, Puerto Rico
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Scarlet runner bean, Phaseolus coccineus

• The scarlet runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus) is
  an ancient cultivar in Mexico.
• They are still commonly eaten there.
• This species also a common bean in Europe.

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Scarlet runner bean, Phaseolus coccineus
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Scarlet runner bean, Phaseolus coccineus
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Common beans, Phaseolus vulgaris

• Kidney beans, pinto beans, navy beans, black
  beans, green beans, wax beans, and snap beans are
  all Phaseolus vulgaris.
• Domesticated in Mexico and South America.
• Domesticated several times.
• Fossil cultivated beans go back 7000 years in
  Mexico and almost as far in Peru.

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Navy beans, Phaseolus vulgaris
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Kidney beans
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• Beans were commonly cultivated in all parts of
  the Americas in 1492.
• This species is the second or third most
  important bean crop in the world.
• The American Indians commonly cultivated beans
  with squash and corn. This was partly to provide
  support for the beans which were viny, but had
  dietary implications as well.

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Peanut or groundnut (Arachis hypogaea)

• Peanuts native to central South America.
• Domesticated by the Guaraní Indians.
• By 2000 B.C. cultivated in Peru.
• Portuguese took peanuts to several parts of the
  world in the early 1500's.
• Now hard to tell that they are not native.
• They were widely cultivated in Africa.
• Brought back to the Americas by black slaves.

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Arachis hypogaea, peanut in flower
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Arachis hypogaea, peanut fruits
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• Peanuts important in the southeastern U.S. in
  sandy soils.
• Largely replaced cotton in the South after the
  boll weevil became a major pest about 1900.
• Peanuts are widely eaten in West Africa and Asia
  today.
• Peanuts are the second most important legume, but
  are often not eaten directly.

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• Contains more oil than most legumes. Peanut oil
  widely used in West Africa and France.
• Usually used to fondue because of its higher
  temperature properties.
• Fruits borne under the ground.
• Much U.S. production goes into peanut butter.
• Aflatoxin is a major problem.

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Vigna (Voandzeia) subterranea, bambara groundnut
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Tamarind and Carob

• Tamarinds (Tamarindus indica) have been used in
  tropical Africa and Asia for thousands of years.
• The sticky pulp surrounding the seeds has a sour
  taste and is the part used.
• Used in many types of sauces.
• See pg. 152.

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Tamarindus indica, tamarind
Bentley and Trimen, Medicinal Plants
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• Carob (Ceratonia siliqua) has also been
  cultivated in the Near East for thousands of
  years.
• Fruits have long been used to feed livestock.
• Carob currently used as a chocolate substitute
  and as a source of "locust gum".

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Ceratonia siliqua, carob
Courtesy Dr. Ben-Erik van Wyk
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