Modulation of the nutritional and functional values of common bean by farming system: organic vs. conventional

Abstract

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a crop of high nutritional interest which is widespread throughout the world as a result of which it is considered as a potential crop for ensuring future food security. The effect of organic and conventional farming systems on the nutritional and functional composition of two cultivars of market class fabada (a landrace and a modern elite cultivar) is described. The findings of our study have shown that the common beans from organic farming have a higher content of protein, phenolic compounds, and relevant microelements such as iron and zinc than the seeds from conventional farming trial. However, in conventional crops a higher content of polyunsaturated fatty acids and lower concentrations of phytic acid and raffinose oligosaccharides were also detected. In contrast, no significant differences were detected in the proximate composition of the two genotypes tested, nor in their antioxidant activity or levels of phenolic compounds. The elite cultivar maintains the nutritional characteristics of the landrace from which it derives, suggesting the genomic regions modified in the improvement do not play an important role in their genetic control.

Fatty Acids in Dry Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.): A Contribution to Their Analysis and the Characterization of a Diversity Panel

“…As a consequence of these differences, the Mesoamerican gene pool had the highest levels of TFA, SFA and UFA, and the Andean and middle gene pools had the lowest ω-6/ω-3 ratio. In addition, significant differences (p < 0.05) were detected between years of cultivation for stearic, oleic and linolenic acids (Table 3), which shows the influence of environmental conditions on the FA profile, in agreement with previous reports [28,55].…”

“…Various studies have reported interesting information about the FA in dry beans, pointing out the variability within the species and the influence of growing conditions on its profile [16,18,[24][25][26][27][28]. These reports show the FA profiles expressed as a percentage of fatty acid in the total fat previously extracted.…”