Variability in Productive and Biochemical Traits of Vicia faba L. Landraces from Apulia Region (South Italy)

Abstract

The faba bean (Vicia faba L. var. major) is a pulse that is garnering attention for its chemical composition, which makes it suitable for a healthy diet. The Apulian germplasm is rich in local accessions at risk of genetic erosion, which need evaluating and promoting. Thirteen Vicia faba local Landraces have been analyzed in relation to their productivity and their chemical and biochemical characteristics: their protein, total phenol, total flavonoid, condensate tannin and L-DOPA levels. The results showed great variability—above all in the thousand-seeds weight and in their content of proteins and L-DOPA. Among the accessions evaluated, the two collected from the most southern area of the region (FV12-FV10) were particularly promising—both for their good biochemical traits and, especially, for the higher L-DOPA content (0.46 and 0.49 g 100 g−1 d.m., respectively), even when expressed in terms of yield per plant (116.3 and 153.0 mg plant−1 d.m., respectively).