LAUSR

Abstract: Legume seeds offer the primary source of dietary proteins for the people of many countries including India. To bear out high dietary protein demand, auxiliary legumes needs to be exploited. Rice bean (Vigna umbellata) is one of the underutilized legumes hereby confirm the nutritional potential for human consumption. Fifty diverse rice bean accessions were screened in the study for various biochemical signatures to identify promising accessions. The crude protein contents varied low and high (2.88 ± 0.00 to 31.79 ± 2.15 mg/g) on a dry matter basis. The highest in vitro protein and starch digestibility was exhibited by rice bean accessions equal to 63.84% and 44.60%. Significant variation for antioxidant activity (9.36 ± 1.20 to 18.56 ± 0.01%) was detected. Multivariate analysis revealed the positive correlation of antioxidant activity with phenolic compounds. Accessions EC-16136, IC-8565-3, IC-2909, IC-521068, IC-18171, IC-18452, IC-521081, IC-12436, and IC-18184 showed promising antioxidant activity, protein content, increased in vitro protein and starch digestibility and reduced oligosaccharides, as demonstrated by hierarchical cluster analysis. For designing future breeding programs, aforesaid accessions can be used as a donor parent and recommended for human consumption as well. Present study seems to be the first kind of comprehensive report on the biochemical analysis of rice bean seeds.