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Legumes and pulses are important food components with various phytochemicals and health benefits. However, the health-related bioactivities of some underutilized species remain uninvestigated. To breed a new bean lineage with particular health-related properties, this study investigated phenolics (specifically, isoflavones) and the in vitro inhibitory activities of the enzyme relevant to some non-communicable diseases in underutilized cultivars of Phaseolus lunatus (lima beans), compared to the commonly consumed P. vulgaris (red kidney bean) and beans in the Glycine and Vigna genera. The results indicated that soybeans in the Glycine genus contained the highest isoflavone contents, especially glycitein (1825–2633 mg/100 g bean) and daidzein (1153–6471 mg/100 g bean), leading to potentially higher enzyme inhibitory activities (25–26% inhibition against α-amylase, 54–60% inhibition against α-glucosidase, 42–46% inhibition against dipeptidyl peptidase IV, 12–19% inhibition against acetylcholinesterase and 20–23% inhibition against butyrylcholinesterase) than those from other genera. Interestingly, lima beans with low isoflavone content (up to 2 mg/100 g bean) still possessed high inhibitory activities against lipase (12–21% inhibition) and β-secretase (50–58% inhibition), suggesting that bioactive compounds other than the isoflavones might be responsible for these activities. Isoflavone contents and enzyme inhibitory activities in Vigna beans were diverse, depending on the particular cultivars. The information gained from this study can be used for further investigation of bioactive components and in-depth health properties, as well as for future breeding of a new lineage of bean with specific health potentials.

Acid phosphatase from rice bean (Vigna umbellata Thunb.) got isolated with 740-fold purification and specific activity 80 U/mg protein. In the native PAGE, a single protein band got observed upon silver staining. The activity staining revealed that the band corresponded to acid phosphatase. The molecular mass of the native acid phosphatase was 80 kDa. The SDS-PAGE exhibited a single protein band of molecular mass 40–41 kDa. Acid phosphatase is colorless and exhibited maximum absorbance at 278 nm but no absorption maximum at 550 nm. The enzyme retained 91.8% activity after 120 days when stored at 4 °C and improved further in the presence of polyethylene glycol (95.6%) and bovine serum albumin (97.0%) under similar storage conditions. The enzyme functioned optimally at pH 5.5 and 60 °C. The energy of activation was 32.6 kJ/mol. The values of Km and Vmax determined by the Lineweaver–Burk plot were 0.108 mM (p-nitrophenylphosphate) and 90.09 μmol/min/mg, respectively. The value of kcat and kcat/Km were 120.12 s−1 and 1.11 × 106 M−1 s−1, respectively.

More salt reduces the growth and causes leaf damage, necrosis, and eventually subjected to death of the crop. Ricebean, belonging to family Fabaceae is a fast growing summer legume crop can produce high green fodder with high content of protein, calcium, phosphorous, tryptophan and also starch content. Approximately, 21.5 million hectares of cultivatable land in Asia are affected due to salinity. An experiment was set up in Completely Randomized Block Design (CRBD) along with three replications in a growth room of the Department of Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India to study the potentiality of Ricebean to withstand against imposed salinity. Data were collected on different seedling growth parameters for screening of available 30 Ricebean genotypes at a 120 mM NaCl salinity level which was identified as standardize salt concentration for screening Ricebean genotypes after standardizing the protocol. Six genotypes viz., KRB-77 (81.58 and 0.41), KRB-273 (79.97 and 0.44) KRB-81 (79.63 and 0.44), KRB-10 (79.17 and 0.60), KRB-95 (76.48 and 0.51) and KRB-271 (71.31 and 0.54) were exhibiting more tolerance to imposed salinity level while genotypes viz., KRB-44 (19.48 and 1.73), KRB-66 (21.38 and 1.69), KRB-115 (22.25 and 1.26) KRB-56 (32.00 and 1.45) and KRB-211 (29.07 and 1.42) KRB-73 (33.10 and 1.43) were identified as susceptible to salinity, based on the study emphasized on germination percentage, relative reduction of dry weights, tolerance index (TI) and salinity susceptibility index (SSI) of different seedling traits.

This study aimed to evaluate the results of the thermal (50 °C) and the chemical inactivation kinetics (urea 0.1 M) of the rice bean phytase along with spectral analysis at elevated temperature (80 °C, 1 h) and in the presence of urea (8 M, 1 h). Thermal inactivation of the phytase from rice bean (Vigna umbellata), exhibited a biphasic kinetic pattern with a distinct fast and a slow phase in the loss of the activity. Bovine serum albumin showed a little protection. The ultraviolet spectrum of the heat-inactivated phytase exhibited a higher absorbance at all wavelengths in comparison to the native enzyme. The emission maxima of the native and heat-inactivated phytase were at 330 and 340 nm, respectively in the fluorescence spectrum. The intensity in the heat-treated enzyme was lower in comparison to the native enzyme. A biphasic curve was also obtained in the chemical inactivation of the phytase. The fluorescence spectrum exhibited a lower emission intensity in comparison to the native enzyme. The emission maximum of the inactivated phytase was at 335 nm. The result indicates that in the presence of urea, more tertiary structure is retained in comparison to the heat-inactivated phytase.

Starch was extracted from the rice bean which is largely underutilized and modified by physical (i.e. heat moisture treatment and retrogradation) and chemical (i.e. esterification and acid alcohol modification) methods. Both, physical and chemical modifications significantly (p heat moisture treated (434.3 nm) > retrograded (355.4 nm) > esterified (218 nm) > acid alcohol treated starch (234.5 nm). The study revealed that the particle size of rice bean starch was reduced by both physical and chemical modifications. FE-Scanning electron microscopy was used to study the morphological characteristics of starches and it was observed that retrogradation had a pronounced effect on the starch granules morphology.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the physicochemical properties and bioactivities of rice beans (Vigna umbellata) fermented by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. The fermentation conditions were optimized on the basis of the fibrinolytic activity. Under the optimal fermentation conditions, the fibrinolytic activity reached a maximum of 78.0 FU·g−1 (4890 IU·g−1, fibrin plate method, FU: fibrin degradation unit). The contents of peptides (which increased from 2.1 to 10.9 g per 100 g), total phenolics (from 116.7 to 388.5 mg gallic acid per 100 g), total flavonoids (from 235.5 to 354.3 mg rutin per 100 g), and anthocyanin (from 20.1 to 47.1 mg per 100 g), as well as the superoxide dismutase activity (from 55.3 to 263.6 U·g−1) in rice beans were significantly increased after fermentation. The 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) free radical scavenging activities and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) of fermented rice beans were 1.9–4.8 times higher than those of unfermented rice beans. Moreover, fermentation induced an increase in the dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) inhibition, α-glucosidase inhibition, and anticoagulant activities of rice beans. Rice beans fermented by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens may serve as a functional food with potential benefits for the prevention of thrombotic diseases.

Aims: To study the effect of iso-osmotic potentials of drought and salinity during seedling growth stage in ricebean. Study Design: Completely randomised design. Place and Duration of Study: The lab experiment was conducted during the year of 2017- 2018 and 2018-2019 in ricebean variety Bidhan 1 at Department of Plant Physiology, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal, India. Methodology: For studying the effect of iso-osmotic potential of salinity and drought stress, the solutions of NaCl and PEG 6000 with -0.2, -0.4 and -0.8 MPa osmotic potential were used and the experiment was conducted in sand culture using modified Hoagland solution [1] under laboratory condition of diffused light, at around 80±1% relative humidity (R.H.) and at a temperature of 28±1°C. Results: All the biochemical parameters under study, in general were adversely affected by the both stress with the effects being more drastic as the intensity of stress increased. The highest intensity of salinity stress was found to produce more adverse effects than drought in respect of RLWC, leaf chlorophyll as well as protein content in leaves of ricebean in the present experiment. While the content of soluble sugar, starch and phenol in the leaf were more drastically affected by drought stress. Conclusion: The drought stress was found to register more drastic effects on seedling growth as compared to iso-osmotic potential of salinity stress, especially, at the highest intensity of stress in ricebean cultivar Bidhan 1.

Rice bean (Vigna umbellata) is a legume that belongs to Vigna genus. Native to Indo-Chinese region, it is considered to be an ‘under-utilized’ or ‘orphan’ crop. Rice bean is known to possess high nutritional potential and antioxidant activity. But the use of rice bean supplementation in routine diet is limited despite its high nutritional profile due to the presence of non-nutritional factors. Thus, various pre-treatments like soaking, germination, oven roasting, sand roasting, boiling and pressure cooking at different time and temperature were carried out to reduce the anti-nutritional content of rice bean and to study its effect on antioxidant activity and phytochemical content. All the pre-treatments were able to significantly reduce the anti-nutrient content in rice bean, but germination showed the maximum reduction. Also germinated rice bean showed the maximum antioxidant potential and maximum content of total phenols, total flavonoids, vitamin C and carotenoids. Rice bean has been underutilized so far, owing to its antinutrient content and low popularity. This experiment attempted to use low cost processing to reduce the content of antinutrients and track the antioxidant content in rice bean. The concluded processing could be adopted for commercial applications for dietary supplementation.

Background: Salinity and drought are the major abiotic stresses and both can cause osmotic imbalances. Drought stress directly results in osmotic stress whereas salinity problem firstly disrupts the water balance and eventually induces ion toxicity which results in cyto-toxicity, metabolic impairment, nutrient imbalance and finally poor crop growth and yield. The co-ordinated up-regulation or constitutive expression of antioxidative system in plants is the main defense in plant against these stresses and thus the present experiment was undertaken to study the antioxidant responses under drought and salinity stress at seedling stage in ricebean (Bidhan 1). Methods: For studying the effect of iso-osmotic potential of salinity and drought stress solutions of NaCl and PEG 6000 with -0.2 MPa (50mM NaCl and 10% PEG), -0.4 MPa (100 mM NaCl and 12% PEG) and -0.8 MPa (200mM NaCl and 18% PEG) osmotic potential were used. The experiment was done in the laboratory of Department Plant Physiology, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV), Mohanpur, Nadia and West Bengal in the year 2017-18 and 2018-19. Result: Under moderate to high intensity of osmotic stresses the leaf proline content decreased. The mild and medium stress treatments induced much higher activity of GPOX and APX in the leaf which then decreased somewhat as the intensity of stress increased. The experiment showed that drought stress was found to produce more drastic effects on seedling growth in ricebean as compared to the salinity stress at iso-osmotic potentials.

The bruchid, Callosobruchus maculatus is a serious pest of stored pulses. Four biophysical seed characteristics viz. Seed size, texture of seed surface, thickness of seed coat and seed hardness of 10 genotypes of rice bean, a wild pulse crop were investigated for assessing mechanism of resistance against C. maculatus. Oviposition preference and larval penetration in seed coat did not differ significantly among different test genotypes. Highest number of larvae which developed up to last larval/pupal instar were observed in susceptible check variety of mungbean, PAU 911 (30.00) and lowest in rice bean genotype, LRB 535 (0.83). Highest and lowest seed weight was noticed in rice bean genotype, LRB 529 (6.81 g) and PAU 911 (3.88 g), respectively. Almost similar seed coat thickness was recorded among different test genotypes. Maximum seed hardness was noted in genotype LRB 507 (6.45 kg) whereas minimum in PAU 911 (2.00 kg) among all test genotypes. Any remarkable correlation of biophysical seed characteristics of test genotypes with ovipositon, larval penetration and development of C. maculatus was not observed. Thus, biophysical seed characteristics of rice bean did not suggest to play a vital role in imparting resistance against C. maculatus.

Ricebean(Vigna umbellata), a native bean of North-Eastern part of India has not been explored fully for development of convenience foods although it is loaded with various vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, phytochemicals and bioactive compounds. The effect of extrusion parameters namely moisture content, barrel temperature and screw speed on expansion ratio, extrudate density, and breaking strength was investigated by using response surface methodology. It was observed that moisture content of flour had significant (p0.05) than the native flour. The OEF was used for different downstream processings such as papadability, friability, steamability, cakeability, gravyability and porridgability and compared with that of native flour for their process quality parameters. The cake prepared with OEF had significantly (p

HPLC method was optimized for analysis eight flatulence and non-flatulence saccharides in 11 ricebean varieties using Spherisorb NH2 chromatographic column within 20 min by isocratic mobile phase containing acetonitrile and water in ratio of 70:30 at flow rate of 1 mL/min. The glucose, sucrose, raffinose, stachyose, verbascose and ajugose content in these varieties ranged from 157.63–365.08, 202.61–997.74, 196.29–429.5, 692.7–1480.67, 47.66–130.36 and 0.27–8.82 mg/100 g, respectively. The total flatulence saccharides (FS) were range between 937.13 ± 44.31 (JCR-08-12) and 1944.55 ± 83.57 (JCR-08-32) mg/100 g. Among the total FS, the content of stachyose was found highest in all varieties than other FS. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that glucose, sucrose, raffinose, stachyose, verbascose, ajugose, and total FS contributed 50.03% variation among the varieties. The eleven varieties were classified into three groups based on saccharides content by PCA. The group-A (JCR-08-12) and group-B (JCR-08-7, JCR-08-16, JCR-50, JCR-13-11, JCR-13-13 and Nagadal) had very low and low content of total FS, respectively.

The moth bean (Vigna aconitifolia), possibly the most primitive crop of the genus Vigna, is a highly drought- and heat-resistant legume grown in arid areas. Moth bean domestication involved phenotypic changes, including reduction of seed dormancy and pod shattering, increased organ size, and earlier flowering and maturity. However, the genetics of the domestication process in moth bean is not known. In this study, we constructed a genetic linkage map for moth bean and used the map to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) for domestication-related traits of an F2 population of 188 individuals produced from a cross of wild moth bean (TN67) and cultivated moth bean (ICPMO056). The genetic linkage map comprised 11 linkage groups (LG) of 172 simple sequence repeat markers and spanned a total length of 1016.8 centiMorgan (cM), with an average marker distance of 7.34 cM. A comparative genome analysis showed high genome synteny between moth bean and mungbean (Vigna radiata), adzuki bean (Vigna angularis), rice bean (Vigna umbellata), and yardlong bean (Vigna unguiculata). In total, 50 QTLs and 3 genes associated with 20 domestication-related traits were identified. Most of the QTLs belonged to five LGs (1, 2, 4, 7, and 10). Key traits related to domestication such as seed dormancy and pod shattering were controlled by large-effect QTLs (PVE > 20%) with one or two minor QTLs, whereas all other traits were controlled by one–seven minor QTLs, apart from seed weight, which was controlled by one major and seven minor QTLs. These results suggest that a small number of mutations with large phenotypic effects have contributed to the domestication of the moth bean. Comparative analysis of QTLs with related Vigna crops revealed that there are several domestication-related large-effect QTLs that had not been used in moth bean domestication. This study provides a basic genetic map and identified genome regions associated with domestication-related traits, which will be useful for the genetic improvement of the moth bean and related Vigna species.

A simple, quick, and sensitive HPLC procedure for simultaneous quantification of eight water-soluble vitamins (WSVs) in 11 ricebean (Vigna umbellata) varieties (JCR-08-7, JCR-08-8, JCR-08-10, JCR-08-12, JCR-08-15, JCR-08-16, JCR-08-32, JCR-13-11, JCR-13-13, JCR-50 and Nagadal) is described. The method includes enzymatic digestion followed by clean-up with solid phase extraction column and then analysis of extracted compounds by reverse phase column using UV-detector. The optimum conditions revealed that the method had an excellent linearity with good regression coefficient (r > 0.993), precision (0.3–2.77%), and accuracy (83–124%), and relatively short analysis time (13 min). The detection and quantification limits for all WSVs ranged 0.1470–1.1583 µg/mL and 0.4456–3.51 µg/mL, respectively. The average content (mg/100 g) of WSVs in 11 ricebean varieties was—B1: 0.579 ± 0.22, C: 2.111 ± 0.86, B3: 2.292 ± 1.15, B6 (pyridoxal-5-phosphate): 7.002 ± 1.31, B6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride): 2.79 ± 3.23, B5: 6.163 ± 3.35, B9: 0.289 ± 0.14, and B2: 0.163 ± 0.06. Principal components analysis showed that Nagadal belongs to third group which had the highest amount vitamin B1, vitamin B3, vitamin B5, and vitamin B2.

Rice bean (Vigna umbellata) is consumed as a common vegetable in Southeast Asia. Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) functions as an endogenous/exogenous stress signal to elicit the production of specific metabolites during sprouting. To elucidate the changes in metabolites and the effects of MeJA on rice bean sprouting, non-targeted ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry along with principal component analysis and supervised orthogonal projection to latent structure-discriminant analysis was performed to analyze the dissimilar profiles among the sprouts at different stages. Analysis of the abundance of biomarkers, such as sugars, free fatty acids, amino acids, flavonoids, benzoic acid derivatives, triglycerides, and lipids, showed the main effects of MeJA involved in the significant metabolite pathways. Our study elucidated the changes in rice bean composition and metabolites associated with various stages of sprouting and the roles of MeJA in sprout physiology. Our results can help improve this economically important grain crop.

Lectins are an important group of multivalent glycoproteins having the property of selectively recognizing and precipitating glycoconjugates. Although lectins have been reported from diverse biological sources, legume lectins is the best-characterized family of plant lectins. We have successfully cloned and sequenced the RbL ORF of 843bp from immature rice bean seeds (Vigna umbellata). We report the results of in silico analysis of novel lectin precursor of 280 amino acids from rice bean. BlastP analysis revealed more than 90% sequence similarity of RbL protein with Vigna angularis lectin and Vigna aconitifolia lectin. ProtParam analysis revealed acidic, stable and hydrophobic nature of RbL protein. Template based 3D structure of RbL protein was modeled using I-TASSER tool and validated as good quality model. Structural analysis revealed the presence of β-sandwich (Jelly roll fold or lectin fold) in modeled RbL structure. RbL protein was functionally annotated as a plant defense protein. Molecular docking was performed to analyze interactions of RbL protein with predicted ligands (N-acetyl-D-glucosamine β-galactose, Lactose and Adenine) and two selected ligands (Glucose and Mannose). Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of RbL-ligand complexes confirmed robust hydrogen bonding interactions between ligands and RbL protein. The novel information generated in the study would be useful in exploring RbL protein for different biomedical and biotechnological applications.

Background: Rice bean (Vigna umbellata L.) has recently been notified as a promising pulse crop. It is grown for green manure, green fodder and pulses. Potassium plays a major role in increasing the legume yield and yield components, besides provides tolerance to stress such as high-low temperature and drought. Similarly, iron is important for chlorophyll synthesis and is a key component of the nitrogenase enzyme, which is important for nitrogen fixation.Methods: A field experiment was conducted during kharif season of 2020 at Crop Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj (U.P). India. Study the ‘‘Effect of potassium and iron levels on growth and yield of kharif Rice bean (Vigna umbellata L.)”. The present experiment was laid out in randomized block design (RBD).Result: The results revealed that the application of 20 kg K2O/ha + 15 kg Fe/ha recorded maximum plant height (111.17 cm), branches per plant (23.40), nodules per plant at 60 DAS (35.67), plant dry weight (41.33 g/plant), pods per plant (26.20), seeds per pod (7.93), seed yield (1.67 t/ha), stover yield (3.95 t/ha), harvest index (29.69%), net return (Rs 81,155.6/ha) and B: C ratio (2.43). It can be concluded that 20 kg K2O /ha + 15 kg Fe/ha was found more productive as well as economic for Rice bean.

Background: Ricebean [Vigna umbellata (Thunb.) Ohwi and Ohashi] is a multipurpose grain legume of Mid-Himalayan region mainly cultivated for food, fodder, green manure and has emerged as a good alternative to other pulse crops such as blackgram and greengram which do not flourish in this region due to their susceptibility to cold temperature stress. It is well reported that the nutritional value of ricebean is higher as compared to many other legumes of the Vigna family and has some superior qualities greater than greengram, blackgram and cowpea. It is also resistance to drought, diseases and pests specially the storage pests during growth period and possesses high percentage of seed viability. Despite having all the favourable traits, it is not much popular among the farmers due to the late maturity and indeterminate growth habit. Instead, farmers prefer other crops which fit easily into their cropping pattern and are easy to harvest. A little genetic improvement with respect to maturity and growth habit can revive its cultivation and show great results in its production as a valuable crop. Thus, the present investigation was formulated to introgress desired traits from mash and adzukibean into otherwise high yielding ricebean genotypes using inter-specific hybridization. Methods: The present investigation involves the inter-specific hybridization among three Vigna species viz, ricebean (Vigna umbellata), blackgram (Vigna mungo) and adzukibean (Vigna angularis). In the year 2017, six genotypes of ricebean (RBHP-36, RBHP-38, RBHP-43, RBHP-61, RBHP-107 and RBHP-108) were crossed with two genotypes of blackgram (HimMash-1 and Palampur-93) and one genotype of adzukibean (HPU-51) in glasshouse conditions. Result: The study revealed that successful crosses were possible only between ricebean and blackgram. All the Inter-specific crosses showed very low pod set percentage ranging from 0 -4% and F1 germination percentage ranging from 20-42%. Pod set percentage and pods harvested varied with combinations of two parental cultivars of each species for most of the inter-specific hybrids. The successful pod set was observed in 16 out of 36 inter-specific crosses. Highest crossability was observed in blackgram and ricebean crosses. Crossing of adzukibean with ricebean showed poor or no pod set among the entire cross combinations which are attributed to early embryo abortion and degeneration during embryogenesis.

Rice bean (Vigna umbellata Thunb.) is an important pulse crop grown in Asia mainly for dried grain or fodder or as green manure and plays an important role in human and animal nutrition. The protein present in rice bean is rich in lysine, which makes it as an excellent addition to the cereal-based diet. The seeds are also rich in minerals and vitamins including thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and ascorbic acid. The rice bean landraces constitute a rich source of biodiversity. The conservation needs these genetic resources to be unraveled judiciously. Expediting the genetic improvement of rice bean, genomic resources, and tools for molecular breeding is important for the crop improvement programs and the breeding activities. The global food security is constrained by several factors including the heavy reliance on very few key staple crops. The need of the hour is to reduce the heavy reliance on the major staple crops. With this regard it becomes imperative to unravel the genetic and genomic resource availability in rice bean which would serve as a major backbone to the underprivileged part of the global population. The genetic diversity studies have been carried out using number of molecular marker systems including, RAPD, AFLP, RFLP, SSR.