Bioactive Profile of Edible Ripened Split Beans of Three Wild Landraces of Coastal Canavalia

Abstract

The coastal dwellers of Southwest India consume ripened split beans of wild legumes Canavalia cathartica and C. maritima as nutritional source. Removal of seed coat and testa of ripened beans followed by pressure-cooking eliminates antinutritional factors substantially without impinging antioxidant or health-promoting potential. This study compares bioactive potential of uncooked and pressure-cooked ripened split beans of three landraces of Canavalia of southwest coast of India. Contents of total phenolics, tannins, and orthodihydric phenols in ripened split beans of all landraces were substantially lowered on cooking. Uncooked and cooked ripened split beans were devoid of trypsin inhibition activity, while hemagglutinin activity was completely eliminated in all landraces except for O+ blood group in C. maritima of coastal sand dune (decreased to one-third). Pressure-cooking decreased the bioactive components to ideal concentration to serve as nutraceuticals and antioxidants, which has potential implications on human health. Overall, the ripened split beans of coastal landraces of wild Canavalia are a rich nutritional source with potential bioactive components which serve as future nutritional health food commodity and warrant further insight on domestication for sustainable exploitation.