2. crop science, vol. 54, july–august 2014 www.crops.org 1699
apparent potential for countering the chronic toxicity caused
by excessive arsenic in such areas as Bangladesh.
Saskatchewan, Canada, has developed into a major
pulse production area since 1990 and is a major exporter
of lentils (Lens culinaris L.), field peas (Pisum sativum L.), and
chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.) (Norgate, 2013). Production
of common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is also significant,
and growth of soybeans has expanded since 2010. Exports
of lentils are primarily to India, Turkey, and Bangladesh; of
peas, to India, China, and Bangladesh; and of chickpeas, to
Turkey, Pakistan, and Jordan (Norgate, 2013).
The principal crop areas of Saskatchewan are composed
mostly of brown and black soils, generally adequate in min-
eral composition, although localized patches of excessively
high salt content, particularly sodium sulphate, are frequent
across much of the crop area. Selenium is adequate to high
almost everywhere in the major crop-growing zones.
Several cultivars each of peas, chickpeas, lentils, and
common beans were grown in test plots across the crop
zones of Saskatchewan in 2005 and 2006. The harvested
products were analyzed for mineral micronutrient com-
position: potassium, magnesium, iron, zinc, manganese,
copper, selenium, and in some cases calcium and nickel
were examined and compared. The data indicate that Sas-
katchewan pulses can contribute significant amounts of
mineral micronutrients to the diet; that the content of the
different minerals depends on location, year, and cultivar;
and that selection for an optimal profile of micronutrient
uptake from soil may be practicable.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Field Conditions and Plant Material
Field pea, chickpea, common bean and lentil were grown in 2005
and 2006 in provincial regional variety trials distributed across
areas in south and central Saskatchewan, Canada, where the crop
species is moderately to well established. Some locations were
used for more than one crop. Plot size for each crop and location
was 4.45 m2
with 4 rows per plot, interrow spacing was 30 cm,
and row length was 3.65 m. Plots were seeded at 80 plants m−2
for field pea, 120 plants m−2
for lentil, 50 plants m−2
for chickpea,
and 62 plants m−2
for dry bean. Experiments were under rainfed
conditions and weed control was done using recommended her-
bicides. Seeding was carried on in May and harvest in August
to September; at each location each crop was planted in 1 d. For
common bean, split plots were used to compare market classes,
while for the other crops, a randomized complete block design
with three replicates per cultivar per location was used. All species
were grown at more than one site, described in Table 1. Cumu-
lative rainfall was taken from Environment Canada data for the
nearest weather station to the field site. Rainfall ranged from 119
mm at Oxbow in 2006 to 379 mm at Canora in 2005 (Table 1).
Approximately 270 to 950 samples per species were analyzed.
The cultivars of each species appear in Table 2. Western
Canadian cultivars are selected with particular attention to early
and late season cold tolerance and fast, uniform maturity in addi-
tion to yield and quality characteristics, market class, disease
resistance, and standability. All pulses in Western Canada are
grown as spring crops.
Analytic Methods
Micronutrient analysis was conducted at the University of Sas-
katchewan, SK, Canada. Subsamples of seeds for determination of
micronutrient concentration were taken randomly from the entire
harvested lot of each of three replicated randomized field plots at
each location. Each replicated seed sample was prepared by a stan-
dard HNO3
–H2
O2
digestion method (Thavarajah et al., 2009a),
using wet digestion with nitric acid followed by atomic absorp-
tion spectrometry. Micronutrient concentrations measured by this
method were validated using NIST standard reference material
1573a. CDC Redberry lentil seeds and organic wheat (Triticum aes-
tivum L.) were used as laboratory reference materials and measured
periodically to ensure consistency in the method. Concentra-
tions for all minerals except Se were measured using flame atomic
absorption spectrometry (AJ ANOVA 300, Lab Synergy), while
for Se, hydride atomic absorption spectrometry was used. For bean
and field pea, Ca was not analyzed, while for chickpea, Ni and K
were not. Data that were clearly technically defective were omit-
ted from analysis; this was less than 1% of data points.
Statistical Analysis
A general linear model was used for analysis of variance
(ANOVA), using a SAS 9.3 statistical program. Initially, each
species was analyzed separately. Effects of cultivar, year, location,
and their interactions were analyzed. For bean, one 2005 site had
to be replaced by a different one in 2006, so location and year
were pooled and treated as location-year. For pairwise compari-
sons of cultivars of each species, Tukey’s test was performed.
To compare the relative performance of the four species in
accumulating mineral micronutrients, interspecific comparisons
were made for those locations where two species were grown
side by side. These data are presented only as mean and standard
error, as they were not a complete randomized block design.
RESULTS
In 2005 much of the crop-growing area experienced
surplus rainfall and late harvest; one bean trial location was
lost to flooding. In 2006 rainfall was generally somewhat
higher than normal, but harvest was not delayed (Table 1).
While drought is frequent in Saskatchewan, especially in
the southwest of the province, it was almost entirely absent
in these years.
Common Bean
Ten cultivars of beans were grown at six locations. The
replacement of one site with another from 2005 to 2006
made it preferable to analyze by location-years rather than
fully partitioned data.
Analysis of variance showed that generally, site-year
was substantially more important than cultivar, although
cultivar was significant for all minerals except selenium,
while location-year and cultivar × location-year were also
highly significant for nearly all measures (Table 3). If data
3. 1700 www.crops.org crop science, vol. 54, july–august 2014
concentrations of mineral micronutrients overall (Table 4),
providing 18,854 to 23,175 mg kg−1
of potassium, 1845 to
2383 mg kg−1
of magnesium, 57.7 to 80.7 mg kg−1
of iron,
24.8 to 33.3 mg kg−1
of zinc, 9.1 to 11.6 mg kg−1
of copper, 5.1
to 6.7 mg kg−1
of nickel, and 381 to 500 μg kg−1
of selenium.
For potassium, magnesium, and selenium, no varieties
showed significant pairwise differences between means by
Tukey’s test, but such differences were found with respect
to the other minerals, particularly for iron and zinc. The
cultivar CDC Jet offered the highest concentrations of both
zinc and iron and was significantly higher than several other
varieties. ‘Maverick’ provided the highest concentrations
were analyzed using separate analyses of location and year,
variance for location and year were of approximately similar
magnitude and much greater than that of cultivar, except
for selenium, where location was much more significant.
The high variance for magnesium and potassium is due to
the very divergent levels of these elements detected from
2005 and 2006 at two locations, as seen for other species.
When site and year were analyzed separately, site was far
more significant than year for manganese and selenium,
while for copper the situation was reversed.
All minerals examined were present at useful levels,
particularly iron, manganese, and copper. Beans had good
Table 1. Field plot locations and rainfall over growing season 2005–2006.
Crop Location
Latitude and
longitude Soil Zone
2005
Rainfall†
2006
Rainfall†
Station
location
—————— mm ——————
Bean Outlook 51.49° N, 107.06° W Dark Brown 251 215 Rosetown
Oxbow 49.23° N, 102.17° W Dark Brown 362 119
Melfort 52.86° N, 104.61° W Black 372 221
Canora 51.63° N, 102.44° W Black 379 182 Yorkton
Rosthern 52.66° N, 106.33° W Black 285 250 Carlton
Saskatoon (Floral) 52.06° N, 106.54° W Dark Brown 295 210
Pea Indian Head 50.53° N, 103.67° W Black 314 135
Melfort 52.86° N, 104.61° W Black 372 221
Rosthern 52.66° N, 106.33° W Black 285 250 Carlton
Rouleau 50.19° N, 104.91° W Dark Brown 371 267 Regina
Saskatoon (Sutherland) 52.14° N, 106.61° W. Dark Brown 279 213
Swift Current 50.29° N, 107.80° W Brown 192 183
Chickpea Davidson 51.26° N, 106.0° W Dark Brown 349 283
Hodgeville 50.11° N, 106.96° W Brown 192 183 Swift Current
Swift Current 50.29° N, 107.80° W Brown 192 183
Elrose 51.20° N, 108.03° W Dark Brown 251 215 Rosetown
Kyle 50.83° N, 108.04° W Brown 192 183 Swift Current
Lentil Saskatoon (Floral) 52.06° N, 106.54° W Dark Brown 295 210
Kyle 50.83° N, 108.04° W Brown 192 183 Swift Current
†
Rainfall for May 1 to September 1 from Environment Canada records. Station used for data is indicated if name not same as site.
Table 2. Cultivars used in the study.
Common bean Field pea Chickpea Lentil
AC Black Diamond black Alfetta yellow Amit Kabuli CDC Blaze small red
AC Cirrus navy Bluebird green CDC Cabri Desi Eston small green
AC Cruiser navy Camry green CDC Corinne Desi CDC Grandora large green
Envoy navy CDC Meadow yellow CDC Frontier Kabuli CDC Greenland large green
CDC Expresso black CDC Centennial yellow CDC Vanguard Desi CDC Impact‡
small red
CDC Jet black CDC Dundurn†
yellow CDC Xena Kabuli CDC Imperial‡
extra small red
Maverick pinto CDC Mozart yellow CDC Luna Kabuli CDC Meteor medium green
CDC Minto pinto CDC Sage green Myles Desi CDC Milestone small green
CDC Pintium pinto CDC Striker green CDC Plato large green
T9903 black Cooper green Red Chief large red
Cutlass yellow CDC Redberry small red
Eclipse yellow CDC Richlea medium green
SW Carousel yellow CDC Robin extra small red
SW Marquee yellow CDC Rosetown extra small red
SW Midas yellow CDC Rouleau small red
SW Sergeant green CDC Sedley large green
Tudor yellow CDC Sovereign large green
CDC Viceroy small green
†
Dun seed coat.
‡
Clearfield.
4. crop science, vol. 54, july–august 2014 www.crops.org 1701
of magnesium and potassium, although the margin was
not significant. Among varieties, the ratio of minimum to
maximum ranged from 71 to 81%, indicating some pos-
sibility of response to directed selection.
Beans from Saskatchewan sites offered substantial levels
of selenium, providing about 80% of the recommended
daily allowance (RDA) in 100 g (dry weight). The loca-
tions near Floral and Outlook were particularly high. Some
range of concentrations occurred among the varieties, but
these did not rise to significance.
Field Pea
Field pea was grown at six locations with 17 cultivars. The
data for selenium were previously analyzed (Thavarajah et
al., 2010) and are included for comparison with other species.
For pea, ANOVA showed that no significant error was
associated with replicate, while the effects of location were
strongly predominant over those of year or cultivar in most
cases (Table 5); location was significant to F < 0.001 for most
of the studied micronutrients. The error mean square for year
was larger than that for location only in the case of manganese.
Error mean squares for cultivar were significant for most min-
erals but generally small relative to year and location effects.
Broadly speaking, mineral levels were similar to those
found in the other pulse crops in these years. Potassium and
magnesium were somewhat lower, but this may reflect field
availability more than uptake ability. Other minerals were
found at good concentrations, with ranges of 47.7 to 58.1
mg kg−1
for iron, 27.4 to 34 mg kg−1
for zinc, 9.0 to 15.6 mg
kg−1
for manganese, 5.2 to 6.3 mg kg−1
for copper, 2.3 to
3.4 mg kg−1
for nickel, and 405 to 554 μg kg−1
for selenium.
When the cultivars were compared pairwise using
Tukey’s test, there were no specific inter-cultivar differ-
ences for the majority of minerals (Table 6). The exceptions
were potassium and magnesium, where differences were
relatively small but significant, and manganese, where the
highest and lowest cultivars of the set differed from each
other. The variability among cultivars was smaller than that
observed in other species, as indicated by the smaller rela-
tive difference between lower and upper limits, and may
indicate a lesser possibility of altering their mineral content
by selection, at least on the basis of the current cultivars.
Chickpea
Chickpea was grown at five locations with eight cultivars.
Error mean square is described in Table 7, while concentra-
tions of minerals in different cultivars appear in Table 8.
For most minerals, highly significant contributions of
year, location and cultivar were observed (Table 7). Mag-
nesium showed a particularly large contribution of year,
related to a change in magnesium shared by several crops
at some sites. Iron, zinc, and copper levels were principally
affected by year and location, although significant variation
from cultivar was seen with zinc. Manganese and selenium
were affected principally by location.
Chickpea from these trials showed very good levels
of several mineral nutrients, especially magnesium,
iron, selenium, copper, and manganese, together with
Table 3. Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) data, indicating sources of error from ANOVA, with data pooled into site-years.
Replicate was significant in only one instance and is omitted. ns, not significant.
Source DF
Mean Square
K Mg Zn Fe Mn Ni Cu Se
Site-year 7 1847414171** 22615567** 359** 1761** 61.2** 60.1** 132** 1473346**
Cultivar 9 37039742** 949245** 104** 1084** 56.2** 17.4** 15.3** 54334ns
Cultivar × Site-year 62 26471885** 382883** 10.9ns 73.4** 4.6** 9.0** 2.6** 52679*
Error 135 to 141 4367268 62328.9 10.6 34.5 1.5 2.7 1.5 29325
CV 9.5 10.4 10.4 8.4 9.1 25.6 12.7 37.7
* Significant at 0.05.
** Significant at 0.01.
Table 4. Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) cultivars and micromineral contents. Cultivars found not to be significantly dif-
ferent by Tukey’s test (0.05 level) are indicated by same letter, within each column. For K, Mg, and Se there were no pairwise
significant differences.
K Mg Fe Zn Mn Cu Ni Se
———————————————————————————————— µg/g ——————————————————————————————— ng/g
CDC Jet 21080 2306 80.7 abcd 33.3 ab 13.0 bcd 10.5 ab 6.0 ab 496
CDC Pintium 18854 2117 57.7 efg 24.8 cd 11.5 cd 9.2 ab 5.5 ab 416
Cirrus 20229 2344 73.1 abcde 30.8 abc 13.8 abc 10.7 ab 7.4 a 381
Cruiser 20450 2284 63.8 defg 30.5 abc 13.9 abc 11.6 a 6.3 ab 457
Envoy 19232 2213 70.1 bcde 30.1 abc 15.5 ab 11.0 ab 6.7 ab 384
Expresso 21802 2383 67.4 cdef 30.7 abc 12.2 bcd 10.9 ab 5.4 ab 500
Maverick 22171 2489 64.2 defg 27.9 bcd 11.3 cd 9.1 b 6.5 ab 438
Minto 20153 1845 59.8 efg 28.4 bcd 11.6 cd 9.9 ab 5.5 ab 381
T9903 19799 2323 70.1 bcde 31.0 abc 15.2 ab 10.2 ab 6.2 ab 402
Mean 20428 2243 67.4 29.8 13.1 10.2 6.1 430
5. 1702 www.crops.org crop science, vol. 54, july–august 2014
cultivar × site interactions also occurred. CDC Vanguard
and Myles were distinct from several other cultivars; Myles
was at the high end of the range for several minerals (Table
8). The cultivar variability is noteworthy as suggesting the
possibility of increasing calcium by selection, which could
improve the relatively weak contribution of chickpea as a
source of dietary calcium.
For zinc, some cultivars were distinct, with CDC Fron-
tier being lower and CDC Xena and Myles higher than the
majority (Table 8). Cultivar × site was significant for cal-
cium, selenium, magnesium, copper, and zinc.
Lentil
Parts of the data on lentils were previously published
(Thavarajah et al., 2011b) and are included for compari-
son. Analysis was performed on material from 18 cultivars
grown at two locations, Saskatoon and Kyle. For several
minerals, potassium, magnesium, manganese, nickel, and
substantial zinc. However, chickpea was not found to pro-
vide much calcium (Table 8). Concentrations ranged from
1525 to 1902 mg kg−1
for magnesium, from 393 to 694 mg
kg−1
for calcium, from 48.6 to 55.6 mg kg−1
for iron, from
21.1 to 28.3 mg kg−1
for zinc, from 21.9 to 25.4 mg kg−1
for manganese, from 6.6 to 8.7 mg kg−1
for copper, and
from 629 to 864 μg kg−1
for selenium.
When the cultivar response was subjected to pairwise
comparison using Tukey’s test, zinc and calcium showed
some variation (Table 8). For iron and selenium, individ-
ual varietal differences could not be identified, although
ANOVA suggested significant differences by cultivar. The
range of mineral content between cultivars was relatively
small, with the low end of the range at 61 to 87% of the
high end for all minerals.
Calcium was exceptional in showing a strong effect
of cultivar, with CDC Vanguard and Myles accumulat-
ing higher concentrations. For calcium, cultivar × year and
Table 5. Field pea (Pisum sativum) data, indicating sources of error from ANOVA. Replicate did not contribute significant varia-
tion for any mineral. ns, not significant.
Source DF
Mean Square
K Mg Zn Fe Mn Ni Cu Se
Year 1 166540118** 15707ns 192** 1241.7** 2717.9ns 1.8** 32.3** 2159181**
Location 5 234307889** 170844** 4543** 3794.9** 1214.1** 141.4** 195.1** 50333858**
Cultivar 16 20735974** 89525** 180** 274.0** 76.8** 3.3** 3.9** 796375*
Year × location 5 297195615** 147583** 1016** 1916.1** 1908.8** 20.3** 14.6** 7216553**
Cultivar × location 80 4974918** 23616ns 44.2** 302.9** 29.7** 2.1** 1.8** 3507406**
Cultivar × year 16 7315169** 16265** 42.8** 427.7** 43.2ns 0.9ns 1.5ns 529339ns
Cultivar × location × year 80 6959396** 21079** 42.1** 27.3** 1.3** 2.5** 2.4** 62751**
Error 370 to 395 949891 11606 19.9 46.2 5.3 0.5 1.1 25367
CV 9.39 9.20 14.60 12.69 18.20 27.58 17.57 34.00
* Significant at 0.05.
** Significant at 0.01.
Table 6. Field pea (Pisum sativum) cultivars and micromineral contents. Cultivars found not to be significantly different by
Tukey’s test (0.05 level) are indicated by same letter, within each column. For Fe, Zn, Cu, Ni, and Se there were no pairwise
significant differences.
K Mg Fe Zn Mn Cu Ni Se
——————————————————————————————— µg/g ——————————————————————————————— ng/g
Alfetta 9540 b 1122 bcdefgh 49.3 30.6 14.0 ab 5.6 2.8 424
Bluebird 10045 ab 1221 abcdef 52.6 28.1 12.2 ab 6.1 2.8 513
CDC Centennial 10035 ab 1199 abcdefgh 55.2 30.4 11.8 ab 5.3 2.4 441
CDC Dundurn 10263 ab 1172 bcdefgh 48.8 33.0 12.4 ab 6.3 3.3 492
CDC Meadow 10191 ab 1168 abcdefgh 54.8 27.5 12.8 ab 5.8 2.5 447
CDC Mozart 10594 ab 1202 defgh 55.1 32.0 13.0 ab 5.6 2.3 450
CDC Sage 10402 ab 1108 abcdefg 53.5 30.5 14.4 ab 6.2 2.6 554
CDC Striker 10794 ab 1209 efgh 53.3 29.1 13.1 ab 6.0 2.5 431
Camry 10031 ab 1098 abcdefgh 47.7 30.8 12.6 ab 5.9 2.7 451
Cooper 10267 ab 1122 bcdefgh 55.9 32.8 9.0 b 6.2 2.4 405
Cutlass 11859 a 1147 bcdefgh 54.3 30.9 15.1 a 5.6 2.6 475
Eclipse 10719 ab 1279 abcd 52.5 34.0 15.6 a 5.9 2.4 445
SW Carousel 11359 ab 1170 abcdefgh 51.9 27.4 11.9 ab 5.9 2.5 504
SW Marquee 9442 b 1135 bcdefgh 58.1 31.5 11.4 ab 5.2 2.6 481
SW Midas 11874 a 1204 abcdefgh 56.1 33.9 13.3 ab 5.9 3.4 467
SW Sergeant 9265 b 1114 cdefgh 54.5 27.7 11.4 ab 5.6 2.7 496
Tudor 9714 ab 1229 abcde 56.8 27.6 11.4 ab 5.9 2.9 489
Mean 10376 1171 53.6 30.5 12.7 5.8 2.7 469
6. crop science, vol. 54, july–august 2014 www.crops.org 1703
copper, location provided the greatest component of varia-
tion; for zinc, iron, and selenium, year was predominant;
and for calcium, cultivar was predominant (Table 9). Year
× location, as well as year, cultivar, and location, were sig-
nificant in most cases, but cultivar × location and cultivar ×
year were significant only for iron and selenium. In some
cases significant variation from replicate was observed,
unlike the case for pea, bean, and chickpea. Lentil data
derived from only two locations, which may have caused
the smaller contribution of location relative to other factors.
Genotypic variation was significant at F < 0.01 for all
minerals except nickel, and pairwise difference by Tukey’s
test was found within the set of cultivars for potassium, cal-
cium, zinc, and copper (Table 10).
The profile of lentil mineral nutrients was broadly simi-
lar to that of the other Saskatchewan-grown pulses (Table
12). The range of concentration of cultivars tested at both
year and locations for potassium was 8802 to 10,024 mg kg−1
;
for magnesium, 938 to 1071 mg kg−1
; for calcium, 268 to 430
mg kg−1
; for iron, 75.6 to 100 mg kg−1
; for zinc, 36.7 to 50.6
mg kg−1
; for manganese, 12.2 to 14.8 mg kg−1
; for copper, 7.0
to 9.2 mg kg−1
; for nickel, 1.1 to 1.8 mg kg−1
; and for sele-
nium, 990 to 1637 μg kg−1
. Comparison of the mean micro-
nutrient concentrations with their corresponding RDAs
indicates that a 100-g serving of dry lentils would provide
half to all the RDA of zinc, iron, manganese, copper, and
selenium, as well as a considerable portion of potassium and
magnesium (Table 13). However, lentils did not provide a
significant source of dietary calcium (Table 12, 13).
Species Comparisons
Where crops were grown side by side at the same loca-
tion, under the same agronomic conditions, comparisons
between species pairs were performed. As the pairs of spe-
cies were not part of the randomized complete block layout,
and mineral or other gradients across the field could exist,
these results must be treated with caution, but they may
suggest rankings for these characteristics among the four
species. Data are presented with means and standard errors
for the sites concerned (Table 11) and are omitted where
a large difference between 2005 and 2006 was observed
(potassium and magnesium in some cases). Analysis of vari-
ance was performed and for most minerals and species pairs,
showed a significant contribution of species to mineral con-
centration (results not shown).
Bean and lentil were grown side by side at Saskatoon
(Floral). Lentil was higher in iron, zinc, manganese, and sele-
nium, while bean was higher in magnesium, copper, and
nickel (Table 11). Pea and bean were grown side by side at
two locations, Melfort and Rosthern. Bean was higher in
iron, manganese, copper, nickel, and selenium, while zinc
was very similar in both species. Pea and chickpea were
grown side by side at Swift Current. Pea contained more
zinc, copper, and selenium, while chickpea contained more
Table 7. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) data, indicating sources of error from ANOVA. Replicate did not contribute significant varia-
tion for any mineral. ns, not significant.
Source DF
Error mean Square
Mg Ca Fe Zn Mn Cu Se
Year 1 69887617** 12400** 296ns 906** 0.2ns 313** 912534**
Location 4 5320969** 19071ns 163ns 316** 1035** 181** 6765706**
Cultivar 7 434926** 179021** 186* 192** 67.0** 17.4** 228519**
Year × location 4 3539861** 24710ns 409** 461** 24.0ns 50.0** 1019900**
Cultivar × location 28 482055** 32839** 154** 55.3** 11.9ns 2.9* 362265**
Cultivar × year 7 344467** 49984** 101ns 50.3* 26.5ns 7.5** 221518**
Error 213 to 220 12425 1.7 25.7 26.0 77.9 16.1 79508
CV 16.6 23.7 16.9 20.0 16.9 18.1 37.3
*Significant at 0.05.
**Significant at 0.01.
Table 8. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) cultivars and mineral contents. Cultivars found not to be significantly different by Tukey’s
test (0.05 level) are indicated by same letter, within each column. For Mg, Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, and Se there were no pairwise sig-
nificant differences.
Mg Ca Fe Zn Mn Cu Se
—————————————————————————————— µg/g —————————————————————————————— ng/g
Amit 1648 441 abc 51.7 27.1 bcd 22.9 6.6 731
CDC Cabri 1634 448 abc 55.0 26.4 abcd 22.3 6.7 636
CDC Corinne 1525 393 ab 48.6 24.4 abcd 25.5 7.1 712
CDC Frontier 1678 430 ab 54.1 21.1 ab 24.4 6.6 868
CDC Luna 1893 467 abc 52.2 21.2 abc 26.0 6.9 629
CDC Vanguard 1634 540 bcd 50.8 25.2 abcd 21.9 7.3 736
CDC Xena 1676 409 ab 49.1 27.7 cd 23.0 8.1 864
Myles 1902 644 cd 55.6 28.3 cd 25.4 8.7 677
Mean 1699 472 52.1 25.2 23.9 7.3 732
7. 1704 www.crops.org crop science, vol. 54, july–august 2014
iron and manganese. Finally, lentil and chickpea were grown
side by side at Kyle. Chickpea was much higher for magne-
sium and manganese, while lentil was higher in iron and zinc
and slightly higher in copper and selenium (Table 11).
Considering individual nutrients, for magnesium, chick-
pea and pea > lentil; for iron, lentil > bean and chickpea >
pea; for zinc, lentil > bean and pea > chickpea; for manga-
nese, chickpea > lentil > bean > pea; for copper, bean > pea
and lentil > chickpea; for nickel, bean > pea and lentil; and
for selenium, lentil and chickpea > bean > pea. Differences
are rarely as large as twofold, however; all four species pro-
vide large proportions of the RDA for most minerals.
Overall data for each species, averaged from all sites and
both years, appear in Table 12 and are expressed as a propor-
tion of the RDA for adults, for each mineral, in Table 13.
DISCUSSION
While available kCal per capita have increased in almost
all regions of the world, the percentage of people suffering
from micronutrient deficiency has increased (Welch and
Graham, 2002; White and Broadley, 2006, 2009). Most
common is iron deficiency, which affects more than half
the world population, but also widespread are deficien-
cies of zinc, potassium, and calcium, while deficiencies in
manganese, magnesium, nickel, and selenium are patchy
and less common. The increased production and produc-
tivity of relatively nutrient-poor grains, which have fre-
quently displaced lower-yielding although more nutritious
legumes, together with continuing population growth,
have contributed to this result. In proposing “a holis-
tic food systems view of agricultural production,” Welch
and Graham note the role that plant breeders may play in
addressing the challenge of micronutrient deficiency. This
Table 9. Lentil (Lens culinaris) data, indicating sources of error from ANOVA. ns, not significant.
Source DF
Mean Square
K Mg Ca Zn Fe Mn Ni Cu Se
Year 1 576245ns 23872** 28.0ns 1353** 56369** 114** 0.06ns 2.27* 8060838**
Location 1 23491382** 1138640** 166ns 250ns 4638** 929** 12.6** 261** 1460479**
Cultivar 17 1757337** 16548** 16917** 145** 470** 6.8** 0.40ns 3.29** 384566**
Year × location 17 127146ns 51570** 67589** 4786** 5293** 2.8ns 1.28* 0.13ns 38986430**
Cultivar × location 17 499780** 8834** 3630ns 40.8ns 140** 2.1ns 0.47ns 0.45ns 194480*
Cultivar × year 17 172761ns 4353ns 3641ns 64.6ns 156** 1.8ns 0.30ns 0.34ns 241749**
Cultivar × year × location 17 161162ns 3955ns 4241ns 79.6* 209** 1.8ns 0.36ns 0.28ns 168353*
Replicate 131743ns 26249** 54745** 1250** 3019** 3.44* 0.50ns 0.33ns 1715077**
Error 214 to 215 175718 2996 3957 43.6 50.2 1.4 0.31 0.38 93957
CV 4.45 5.54 19.5 14.5 8.12 8.70 36.93 7.56 25.98
* Significant at 0.05.
**Significant at 0.01.
Table 10. Lentil (Lens culinaris) cultivars and mineral contents. Cultivars found not to be significantly different by Tukey’s
test (0.05 level) are indicated by same letter, within each column. For Mg, Fe, Mn, Ni, and Se there were no pairwise
significant differences.
K Mg Ca Fe Zn Mn Cu Ni Se
——————————————————————————————— µg/g ——————————————————————————————— ng/g
CDC Blaze 9877 ab 982 285 bc 93.4 50.6 a 13.1 8.7 ab 1.7 1187
CDC Grandora 9888 ab 1013 311 bc 81.8 43.9 ab 14.8 8.3 ab 1.4 1380
CDC Greenland 9819 abc 1041 318 bc 76.4 45.6 ab 14.5 8.0 ab 1.3 1305
CDC Impact 9908 ab 1003 268 c 90.5 49.9 ab 12.8 8.5 ab 1.6 1172
CDC Imperial 8802 e 943 308 bc 84.4 47.1 ab 14.6 8.4 ab 1.6 1181
CDC Meteor 9647 abcd 1008 353 abc 84.7 43.1 ab 13.9 7.9 ab 1.4 1042
CDC Milestone 8882 de 952 343 abc 88.0 36.7 b 12.2 8.3 ab 1.4 990
CDC Plato 9486 abcde 1012 306 bc 86.4 48.0 ab 14.0 8.0 ab 1.3 1107
CDC Redberry 9306 abcde 936 296 bc 95.8 49.5 ab 13.7 8.3 ab 1.4 1286
CDC Richlea 9466 abcde 1010 337 abc 91.9 45.1 ab 13.9 7.5 ab 1.8 1073
CDC Robin 9000 de 983 306 bc 93.1 45.4 ab 13.7 8.8 ab 1.5 1637
CDC Rouleau 9093 bcde 973 430 a 85.3 42.9 ab 13.8 7.6 ab 1.1 1005
CDC Sedley 9333 abcde 1071 326 bc 85.8 47.5 ab 14.5 7.6 ab 1.4 1397
CDC Sovereign 9050 cde 994 323 bc 75.6 44.3 ab 14.6 7.0 b 1.7 1316
CDC Viceroy 9167 bcde 959 330 bc 89.5 45.6 ab 13.0 8.4 ab 1.6 1034
Eston 9229 abcde 959 297 bc 83.9 41.7 ab 12.6 7.7 ab 1.7 970
Red Chief 10024 a 1017 378 ab 84.7 49.9 ab 13.9 8.1 ab 1.5 993
Rosetown 9588 abcde 938 287 bc 100 43.7 ab 13.4 9.2 a 1.5 1158
Mean 9420 988 322 87.3 45.6 13.7 8.1 1.5 1180
8. crop science, vol. 54, july–august 2014 www.crops.org 1705
requires basic data on micronutrient levels and an under-
standing of the heritability of micronutrient accumulation
in edible plant parts. Large-scale trials of bean, pea, and
chickpea varieties drawn randomly from international col-
lections have shown two- to threefold differences among
cultivars in concentration of iron, zinc, calcium, magne-
sium, and copper, and in some cases sixfold or more differ-
ences (reviewed by White and Broadley, 2009).
Saskatchewan-grown pulses are excellent sources of
several critical mineral micronutrients, able to contribute
50 to 100% of the RDA for potassium, magnesium, iron,
manganese, copper, and selenium, together with 25 to 35%
of the RDA for zinc, in the cooked or processed equivalent
of 100 g dry weight, which is a reasonable portion of food.
The selenium component is particularly relevant to the
large number of people who experience either direct sele-
nium deficiency or the effects of arsenic in drinking water, a
common situation in water from deep bore wells in Bangla-
desh and elsewhere, which may be alleviated by selenium.
In general, the genotypic contribution to total vari-
ability is limited, relative to year and location. The varieties
grown in these trials were developed without reference to
Table 12. Mean levels of microminerals, averaged across all cultivars and locations. n/a, not available.
K Mg Ca Fe Zn Mn Cu Ni Se
————————————————————————————————— µg/g ————————————————————————————————— ng/g
Dry Bean 20593 2248 n/a 69.4 30.1 12.9 10.2 6.0 443
Chickpea n/a 1699 472 52.1 25.2 23.9 7.3 n/a 732
Field Pea 10355 1164 n/a 53.6 30.2 12.5 5.8 2.7 470
Lentil 9420 988 322 87.3 45.6 13.7 8.1 1.5 1179
Table 13. Percentage of required daily allowance (RDA) provided by 100 g (dry weight) pulses. n/a, not available.
Component
RDA
% of RDA in 100 g dry wt.
Bean Chickpea Field pea Lentil
male female units male female male female male female male female
K 4700 4700 mg 44 44 n/a n/a 22 22 20 20
Mg 420 320 mg 54 70 40 53 28 36 24 31
Ca 1000 1000 mg n/a n/a 5 5 n/a n/a 3 3
Zn 11 8 mg 27 38 23 31 27 38 42 58
Fe 8 18 mg 87 39 65 29 67 30 109 48
Mn 2.3 1.8 mg 56 72 104 133 54 69 60 76
Cu 0.9 0.9 mg 113 113 78 78 64 64 90 90
Ni†
1 1 mg 60 60 n/a n/a 27 27 15 15
Se 55 55 μg 81 81 133 133 85 85 215 215
†
RDA for nickel is not established. 1 mg is suggested as Tolerable Upper Intake.
Table 11. Comparison of crops grown side by side at individual sites.
Mg Fe Zn Mn Cu Ni Se
———————————————————————— µg/g ——————————————————————— ng/g
Bean and lentil, grown at Saskatoon (Floral)
Bean mean 1807 62.6 28.2 13.0 10.1 5.8 779
St. Error 24.0 1.3 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 33.4
Lentil mean 1062 82.7 46.7 15.8 7.0 1.7 1097
St. Error 8.8 1.6 1.0 0.2 0.1 0.1 46.1
Pea and bean, grown at Melfort and Rosthern
Bean Mean 71.9 33.2 13.4 9.0 6.5 362.2
St. Error 1.0 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.3 15.9
Pea Mean 56.6 33.8 10.6 4.5 2.4 259.4
St. Error 1.1 0.5 0.2 0.1 0.1 14.6
Pea and chickpea, grown at Swift Current
Chickpea Mean 53.4 24.7 29.5 4.1 304.3
St. Error 1.5 1.2 0.8 0.2 25.8
Pea Mean 48.1 40.5 11.1 6.2 346.4
St. Error 0.8 0.7 0.3 0.1 11.6
Lentil and chickpea, grown at Kyle
Chickpea Mean 1822 49.7 26.2 16.9 8.8 1241
St. Error 137.5 1.8 1.5 0.6 0.3 64.2
Lentil Mean 916 91.9 44.5 11.7 9.2 1262
St. Error 4.7 2.3 0.9 0.1 0.1 70.1
9. 1706 www.crops.org crop science, vol. 54, july–august 2014
micronutrient content, and in some cases have been devel-
oped from a limited pool of genotypes, given the constraints
of a moderately severe climate, and have been stringently
selected for other purposes than mineral content. Where sub-
stantial genotypic variation exists, the potential for improve-
ment through selection is present. Selection may address par-
ticular deficiencies or improve strengths for end use.
Common Bean
Common bean appears to be a rich micromineral supple-
ment source, with high levels particularly of iron and sele-
nium, and good levels of the other measured nutrients. In
general, the mineral content of the bean lines analyzed here
is similar to those previously analyzed from Saskatchewan
and elsewhere. Wang et al. (2010), examining several market
classes of prairie-grown Canadian beans, found broadly
similar data. Magnesium and potassium and copper were
somewhat lower, iron and zinc very similar, and manga-
nese higher than in the present data. Beans grown in Mani-
toba were also comparable overall, but the Saskatchewan
material was somewhat higher for the components potas-
sium, magnesium, iron, zinc, and copper (Oomah et al.,
2008). The Saskatchewan beans contained somewhat more
potassium, magnesium, zinc, and iron than beans grown
in North Dakota and Minnesota, but much less manganese
(Moraghan and Grafton, 2001).
Common bean was found to be a very good source of
selenium, although no genotypic variation was identified.
Almost no research on selenium from common bean has
been performed previously.
We did not analyze calcium of bean seed; however, cal-
cium was reported to be 750 to 1555 mg kg−1
by Wang et
al. (2010), 1456 mg kg−1
(Oomah et al., 2008) in western
Canada, 1600 to 2200 mg kg−1
by Gelin et al. (2007), and
1020 to 2970 mg kg−1
by Moraghan and Grafton (2001) in
North Dakota, data which suggest that 10 to 15% of the
RDA for calcium could be provided by 100 g dry weight
of beans, possibly indicating a higher capacity to provide
calcium than the other pulse crops. Significant variation
among cultivars was seen in these papers, suggesting the
possibility of selection for higher calcium content.
Field Pea
The overall mineral content of field pea is similar to or
somewhat lower than the other pulses examined, provid-
ing good levels of all the key micronutrients. For zinc,
iron, and magnesium, these data are generally similar to
those of Amarakoon et al. (2012) on field peas grown in
North Dakota, except that levels of zinc were higher in
the Dakota material. While significant variation in geno-
typic variation was present for most minerals, it was usually
slight in comparison with the year and particularly with
the location component of variation. These data are also
very comparable to data previously obtained for western
Canadian field pea by Gawalko et al. (2009), except that
means for nickel and selenium were lower in their data.
Field pea provided very useful proportions of the RDA
for several minerals, providing roughly a quarter of the
RDA of potassium, magnesium, and zinc, together with
two-thirds of the RDA for iron, manganese, copper, and
selenium (Thavarajah et al., 2010), in a portion of 100 g
(dry weight). A comparison of seed grown elsewhere or in
Saskatchewan showed much higher selenium content in the
Saskatchewan-grown seed (Thavarajah et al., 2011a,b).
Gawalko et al. (2009) showed that field pea from western
Canada has higher calcium concentrations than chickpea or
lentil, with mean calcium of 821 mg kg−1
, while Amarakoon
et al. (2012) found mean calcium levels of 870 mg kg−1
in
North Dakota, suggesting that 8% of the RDA could be pro-
vided by 100 g (dry weight) of field pea. The data of Amara-
koon et al. (2012) also indicate a higher cultivar contribution
to total variance in calcium compared with other minerals, as
we observed in chickpea and lentil, suggesting the possibility
of breeding for greater calcium accumulation in several of
the pulses. The present cultivars of field pea may have some
advantage in calcium concentration, compared with region-
ally grown cultivars of other pulses.
Chickpea
Micronutrient content of chickpeas has been examined by
Wang et al. (2010) and Bueckert et al. (2011) using Saskatche-
wan material and by Thavarajah and Thavarajah (2012) using
North Dakota material, and data have also been reviewed by
Jukanti et al. (2012). Zinc in our material is at the low end of
this range and calcium lower than in previous data, including
at similar sites in 2002–2003 (Bueckert et al., 2011).
The mineral components previously examined using
data from 2002–2003 (Bueckert et al., 2011), when com-
pared with the 2005–2006 data, show some differences.
In the 2005–2006 data, zinc and iron were lower than in
2002–2003, magnesium similar, and calcium much lower
when analyzed using either all the cultivars and locations
or only the cultivars (Myles and CDC Xena) and locations
(Swift Current) in common between the two sets of data.
The 2005–2006 seasons were notably wetter than the long-
term average for the area, while 2002 and 2003 (especially
2003) were hot and dry. Variability from a greater number
of field seasons would, therefore, have been greater than
that seen in 2005–2006. The relatively low calcium differs
from the data of Gunes et al. (2006), using several chick-
pea cultivars, which suggest that calcium, potassium, iron,
zinc, and manganese show broadly comparable reductions
in whole plant uptake of minerals following moderate
drought. However, the field year 2003 was exceptionally
dry and seed for analysis had to be hand-selected from an
immature harvest, so that data from that year need to be
treated with caution (Bueckert et al., 2011).
10. crop science, vol. 54, july–august 2014 www.crops.org 1707
Calcium was lower than in other pulse crops, and does
not represent a large contribution to daily calcium require-
ments. However, we observed significant variation among
cultivars, which suggests that a strong response to breeding
for calcium content may be achievable.
Chickpeas appear to be a particularly good source of
selenium, with levels averaging 731 μg kg−1
, supplying more
than 100% of the RDA from a 100 g (dry weight) amount.
This is higher than North Dakota data (333 μg kg−1
, mean
of 10 cultivars; Thavarajah and Thavarajah, 2012), but both
Saskatchewan and North Dakota data are very high com-
pared with values from pulses grown elsewhere, pointing
to the potential of chickpeas from areas with high-selenium
soil as a source of dietary selenium. While no pairwise dif-
ferences were identified, significant genotypic variation
appeared to exist among the cultivars.
Lentil
Lentils were shown to be a good source of iron, zinc, potas-
sium, magnesium, manganese, and copper, but not cal-
cium. In addition, lentil proved a particularly good source
of selenium, with a range of 425 to 672 μg kg−1
. Previous
work demonstrated that the majority of selenium was pres-
ent as the available forms selenomethionine or inorganic
selenium, with little in the unavailable form selenocycteine
(Thavarajah et al., 2008).
Compared with previously published data by Wang
et al. (2009) for western Canadian lentils, and Faris et al.
(2013) for American lentils, several minerals are broadly
comparable: potassium, magnesium, iron, zinc, and man-
ganese. Copper is somewhat higher than in Faris et al.
(2013), and selenium is much higher. Calcium, however,
is substantially lower. Lentils have been selected in part for
reduced phytate in addition to other characteristics; there-
fore, we analyzed correlations between phytate content
and mineral content. While some slight correlations were
observed, none were significant (results not shown). Some
lentil cultivars, particularly CDC Rouleau, contained
noticeably higher concentrations of calcium and could be
targeted in efforts to select for this particular micronutrient.
The genotypic variability found for magnesium, potas-
sium, manganese, and copper indicate the possibility of
enhancing the content of these micronutrients in lentils,
should further increase be desired. Genetic factors con-
ferring lentil element uptake appear to be largely element
specific; hence, the significant genetic variability could be
exploited by focusing on individual elements. Concentra-
tions of all these micronutrients could be further increased
by appropriate genetic material selection and development
through breeding efforts.
Comparisons Between Species
Patterns of mineral content were found to be broadly simi-
lar for all species. Differences between species pairs grown
at one site are rarely more than twofold, with the widest
apparent variability in uptake found for zinc. However,
location effects are large in most cases and particularly
noticeable for selenium. No one crop has the highest con-
centration of any mineral, and all share the overall pattern
of ability to deliver much to all of the RDA for most miner-
als, with the exception of calcium.
A clear pattern throughout the data is that growth location
and to a lesser extent year are far more influential than culti-
var in most cases. This may well be because cultivars grown
in this area have been selected with little or no attention to
mineral constituents, so that amounts taken up by present-day
cultivars, insofar as they vary, do so largely by chance. In stud-
ies where a very large number of cultivars have been grown
at the same site for comparison, a wider range of mineral con-
tents has been observed for pea, chickpea, and bean (White
and Boadley, 2009). It is probable that good donor sources for
higher (or lower) mineral content could be found.
Calcium, a mineral required in relatively high concen-
tration to maintain bone strength among numerous func-
tions, is relatively low in pulses and does not provide a sig-
nificant portion of the RDA from an ordinary-sized serv-
ing. However, significant genotypic variability is present
within the relatively few cultivars tested in chickpea and
lentil, while other studies, discussed above, have identified
significant genotypic variation in bean and field pea, sug-
gesting the possibility of improving uptake by selection.
A 100-g serving of Saskatchewan pulses, particularly
from Se-rich soil, can provide 100% of the RDA for this
mineral, and may have a significant role in combating
selenium deficiency in those regions where it is prevalent.
Selenium has a very poorly defined role in plant metab-
olism and may be managed without much specificity in
most plant species, excepting selenium accumulators. Sele-
nium characteristically shows high variation from location
to location on a localized scale, but Saskatchewan soils in
all crop regions tend to be high in selenium (Garrett et al.,
2013), and all the sites provide selenium at much higher
levels than do similar crops grown in most areas of the
world (Thavarajah et al., 2011a,b). Tables 12 and 13 indi-
cate that lentil is the best selenium source; however, the
comparisons of pulses grown at the same site show that
lentil and chickpea grown at Kyle are equivalent (Table 11).
For this mineral, growth location appears to be paramount.
Potassium and magnesium, required at relatively high
levels for a variety of physiological functions, are highly
mobile in soil and also are commonly provided to some
degree in fertilizers. Levels were found to be exceptionally
variable year to year at some locations.
Copper, manganese, selenium, and nickel are required
in much lower concentrations for various enzyme and other
functions. All four pulse species provide at least large por-
tions of the RDA for these minerals. Zinc and iron are very
commonly deficient in the human diet, even where a wide
11. 1708 www.crops.org crop science, vol. 54, july–august 2014
variety of food is readily available. For both these minerals,
the pulses tested could provide a quarter to all the RDA in
a 100-g (dry weight) portion of food.
CONCLUSIONS
A holistic solution to micronutrient deficiencies would be
the cultivation, distribution, and use of a larger variety of
plants, but for many, particularly the increasing populations
of urbanized poor, this is impractical. In particular, local
or regional shortages of available cash mean that most food
purchased or provided is the cheapest available. Therefore,
the emphasis shifts to ensuring that the bulk commodities
that make up a large portion of the usual diet over large
areas provide adequate nutrients, in terms of mineral and
other micronutrients as well as for energy, fats, and proteins.
An improved profile of mineral micronutrients in
common plant foods would be beneficial for human nutri-
tion, and the necessary genetic variability has been demon-
strated for some species (Welch and Graham, 2002; White
and Broadley, 2009). This paper shows that significant vari-
ation exists among the few cultivars examined for some,
but not all, such minerals. Saskatchewan-grown pulses can
contribute substantially to an adequate diet in terms of
mineral micronutrient content. However, the existence of
a useful degree of variability cannot be assumed, especially
where the common cultivars for a species are drawn from
a narrow genetic base, are highly selected for other charac-
teristics such as yield, or have not been examined in terms
of mineral and other micronutrient factors.
Acknowledgments
We thank Chai-Thiam See, Barry Goetz, Desiree Lalonde, and
Brent Barlow from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada,
for technical assistance. Support for this research was provided
by the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers (PRO0806), Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan, Canada.
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