Diversity for vitamin and amino acid content in grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.)

This study was conducted to determine vitamin A, B, C, b-carotene and amino acid profile in 18 genotypes and four grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) varieties which have low b-ODAP. Present results indicated that retinol, b-carotene, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothene, pyridoxine, folic acid and ascorbic acid ranged from 25.6 to 44.1 µg/kg; 240.8 to 410.1 µg/kg, 3.74 to 5.44; 1.86 to 2.76; 12.37 to 20.25; 14.43 to 22.41; 4.92 to 6.62; 4.04 to 6.77 and 33.4 to 58.2 mg/kg, respectively in seeds. In addition to, the amino acid profile of the genotypes differed significantly and total amino acid amounts were found to be 19.69 to 23.48 g/100 g seeds. A large and significant variation was observed among these genotypes with low b-ODAP content in respect to the quality of the nutrient content. This variability will be useful to breeders for utilization in grass pea improvement.