Genetic diversity among cultivated and wild lentils for iron, zinc, copper, calcium and magnesium concentrations

Abstract

Information on the seed mineral concentration of cultivated and wild lentils is limited. The objective of this study was to determine the concentrations of iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), calcium (Ca), copper (Cu), and magnesium (Mg) in the seeds of 26 lentil genotypes representing 4 species and 3 subspecies of Lens. Plants were grown in a greenhouse using a completely randomized design with three replicates (n=78). Seed mineral concentrations were measured using acid digestion followed by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy. Concentrations of Fe, Zn, Ca, Cu, and Mg in seeds varied from 26-92, 17-51, 97-536, 3-12 and 272-892 mg kg-1, respectively, among the Lens culinaris genotypes. Mineral concentrations for L. lamottei (Fe=64-80, Zn=26-40, Ca=311-434, Cu=2-6, Mg=754-839 mg kg-1), L. nigricans (60-70, 33-39, 508-590, 3-4, 445-738 mg kg-1) and L. ervoides (65, 37, 339, 6, 638 mg kg-1) were within the range of Lens culinaris genotypes. No wild species was superior to cultivated ones for all micronutrients. A larger set of germplasm should be evaluated in future experiments to identify additional genetic variation in lentil for these micronutrients.