Сomparative analysis of wild and cultivated Lathyrus L. spp. according to their primary and secondary metabolite contents

Abstract

Species of the genus Lathyrus L. are known as forage and medicinal plants, widely used in traditional medicine and homeopathy. The content of protein, essential amino acids and carotene in their green biomass is higher than in other annual leguminous plants traditionally cultivated in Russia. Until now, the requirements for the crop's quality were reduced to a high content of protein and dry matter in seeds and herbage. In-depth biochemical analysis of accessions from the collection of plant genetic resources will significantly improve selection of source materials for breeding. Such tasks can be solved using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry in plant diversity studies. In view of the above, our goal was to analyze organic acids, free amino acids and secondary metabolites in green biomass of Lathyrus to facilitate comprehensive assessment of its forage and pharmacological value. We analyzed 32 accessions of Lathyrus sativus L., L. tuberosus L., L. sylvestris L., L. vernus (L.) Bernh., L. latifolius L. and L. linifolius (Reichard) Bassler from the collection of the Vavilov Institute (VIR). The studied Lathyrus accessions had significant interspecific and intraspecific variability both in the composition (presence) and number of the identified compounds. The analysis of plants across different years confirmed that biochemical parameters depended on weather conditions. The colder and drier conditions of 2012 contributed to the accumulation of organic acids (mean: 890 mg/100 g), free amino acids (mean: 201.59 mg/100 g), and secondary metabolites (mean: 84.14 mg/100 g). The range of variability for organic acids ranged from 140 to 2140, for free amino acids from 11.8 to 610, and for secondary metabolites from 4.4 to 224.6 mg/100 g. Grass pea accessions with high organic acid, free amino acid and secondary metabolite contents were identified: k-900 (Colombia) for organic acids (2140, 610 and 178 mg/100 g); k-51 (Georgia) and k-959 (Afghanistan) for free amino acids (401.29 and 540.63 mg/100 g); k-893 (Eritrea) for secondary metabolites (199.39 mg/100 g), etc. They can serve as source material for the development of cultivars for different uses (forage and medicinal).

Comparative analysis of wild and cultivated Lathyrus L. species to assess their content of sugars, polyols, free fatty acids, and phytosterols

“…identified about 300 components. Organic acids, free amino acids and phenol-containing compounds were discussed in an earlier publication (Solovyeva et al, 2019). This study presents analytical results of comparing the contents of over 60 compounds in the peavine green biomass, including such groups as sugars, polyols, phytosterols, and FFA.…”

“…Phosphate forms of glycerol and inositol were also identified as well as metabolic products of glycerophospholipids (glycerol 3-phosphate and myo-inositol 2-phosphate). Phenol-containing alcohols were discussed earlier (Solovyeva et al, 2019).…”

“…Thus, over 300 compounds have been identified in the green biomass of Lathyrus spp. (Solovyeva et al, 2019); more than 60 of them are described in this publication. The values of a majority of the analyzed biochemical substances demonstrated a wide range of variability.…”

“…The hay from grass pea matches alfalfa in nutritiousness (Poland et al, 2003). The content of organic acids in the Lathyrus green biomass varies from 140.0 to 2140.0 mg/100 g, free amino acids from 11.8 to 610.0 mg/100 g, and secondary metabolites from 4.4 to 224.6 mg/100 g (Solovyeva et al, 2019).…”

“…exposed a wide range of compounds in it (organic acids, free amino acids, and secondary metabolites). Accessions from the peavine collection were identified as promising sources for the development of highly nutritious, resistant and officinal cultivars (Solovyeva et al, 2019).…”