Research Project: Pulse Crop Health Initiative

Location: Sugarbeet and Potato Research

2022 Annual Report

Objectives
Coordinate the implementation of the pulse health initiative for expanded pulse crops research in the areas of health and nutrition, functionality, sustainability, and global food security. Research should be coordinated with interested ARS, state, and industry cooperators, and administered through non-assisted cooperative agreements. Planning workshops and annual meetings involving interested parties will be organized throughout the funding period.

Approach
Research will be conducted cooperatively to address the following research areas: Human Health and Chronic Disease Prevention; Functionality Traits and Food Security; and Sustainability of Pulse Production Systems. Targeted projects will focus on dry bean, dry pea, chickpea, or lentil research (or a combination of pulse crops) in the following priority areas: (1) Determine the role of pulse food consumption in a healthy diet with an emphasis on the biological mechanisms and impact on key health endpoints (e.g., glycemic control, cardiovascular risk factors, obesity/overweight, metabolic syndrome, inflammation, or microbiome composition); (2) Conduct well-designed and adequately controlled studies in humans that provide definitive data regarding the nutritional/health benefits of pulses as a component of a healthy diet; (3) Determine dietary consumption patterns of pulse foods and pulse food ingredients among U.S. consumers and the barriers and facilitators to pulse consumption; (4) Determine the role of dietary fiber, oligosaccharides, and other plant prebiotics from pulse crops in altering the composition and promoting beneficial attributes of a healthy gut microbiome; (5) Identify biomarkers of intake for various pulses; (6) Determine whether/how processing changes the health benefits or energy value of pulse foods consumed as part of a healthy diet; (7) Optimize processing conditions and formulations to improve the acceptability, flavor, nutritional value, or health attributes of foods made with pulses; (8) Develop high-throughput functionality measures that can be used by breeders and industry to assess functional characteristics of novel germplasm or current varieties; (9) Evaluate functional properties of protein and other pulse fractions/ingredients and optimize their use in food applications; (10) Determine the variability in chemical/nutritional composition of pulse crops and determine factors (agronomic, genetic or environmental) that influence that variation; (11) Determine factors (genetic or environmental) affecting the functional properties of pulse foods as ingredients in different food applications; (12) Develop pulse varieties with improved nutritional or functional attributes, combined with enhanced agronomic traits, and disease and pest resistance; (13) Assess the water footprint and demonstrate the value of improved water use efficiency in pulse-small grain cropping systems (e.g., field studies; life-cycle analyses); (14) Assess the carbon footprint and demonstrate the value of pulse cropping systems on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; (15) Develop improved pulse varieties that fix more nitrogen and identify enhanced plant-rhizobia interactions that yield superior nitrogen fixing capacity and leave greater residual nitrogen in soil; (16) Develop agronomic strategies to improve soil health through the incorporation of pulses in a cropping system rotation; (17) Assess the impact of incorporating pulses and expanding their use in the U.S. diet on sustainability outcomes.

Progress Report
This report documents progress for cooperative research performed as part of the Pulse Crop Health Initiative and involves researchers at several U.S. universities and USDA-ARS locations, in cooperation with USDA-ARS in Fargo, North Dakota. Studies were carried out in 43 cooperative projects that focused on (1) human health improvement & chronic disease prevention, (2) functionality traits of pulse ingredients for use in food products, (3) breeding pulse crops for nutritional quality and food security, or (4) sustainability of pulse production systems. Research covered all target pulse crops, including peas, lentils, chickpeas, dry beans, and cowpeas. Research plans-of-work were requested for the fiscal year (FY) 22 funding cycle in February 2022. Over $7.6 million in requests from 81 potential projects were received, with approximately $4.2 million available for distribution to selected plans-of-work. Proposals were reviewed and ranked by one of three scientific review panels focused on human health, breeding and sustainability, or food technology. The Initiative Steering Committee met and awarded funds to 51 projects, spanning the research priority areas of Breeding (9 projects), Sustainability (12 projects), Food Technology (15 projects), and Human Health (15 projects).

Accomplishments

Review Publications
Tóth, B., Moloi, M.J., Szoke, L., Danter, M., Grusak, M.A. 2021. Cultivar differences in the biochemical and physiological responses of common beans to aluminum stress. Plants. 10(10):2097. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10102097.
Phillips, C.L., Meyer, K.M., Garcia-Jaramillo, M., Weidman, C., Stewart, C.E., Wanzek, T.A., Grusak, M.A., Watts, D.W., Novak, J.M., Trippe, K.M. 2022. Towards predicting biochar impacts on plant-available soil nitrogen content. Biochar. 4. Article 9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42773-022-00137-2.
Al Bari, M., Zheng, P., Viera, I., Worral, H., Szwiec, S., Ma, Y., Main, D., Coyne, C.J., McGee, R.J., Bandillo, N. 2021. Harnessing genetic diversity in the USDA Pea Germplasm Collection through genomic prediction. Frontiers in Genetics. 12. Article 707754. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2021.707754.
Geng, P., Hooper, S., Sun, J., Chen, P., Cichy, K.A., Harnly, J.M. 2022. Contrast study on secondary metabolite profile between pastas made from three single varietal common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and durum wheat (Triticum durum). ACS Food Science and Technology. 2(5):895–904. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.2c00050.
Winham, D.M., Thompson, S.V., Heer, M.M., Davitt, E.E., Hooper, S.D., Cichy, K.A., Knoblauch, S.T. 2022. Black bean pasta meals with varying protein concentrations reduce postprandial glycemia and insulinemia similarly compared to white bread control in adults. Foods. 11(11): Article 1652. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11111652.
Shen, Y., Hong, S., Singh, G., Koppel, K., Li, Y. 2022. Improving functional properties of pea protein through “green” modifications using enzymes and polysaccharides. Food Chemistry. 385. Article 132687. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2022.132687.
Mclean, P.E., Lee, R., Howe, K.J., Osborne, C., Grimwood, J., Levy, S., Haugrud, A.P., Plott, C., Robinson, M., Skiba, R.M., Tanha, T., Zamani, M., Thannhauser, T.W., Glahn, R.P., Schmutz, J., Osorno, J., Miklas, P.N. 2022. The common bean V gene encodes flavonoid 3'5' hydroxylase: A major mutational target for flavonoid diversity in angiosperms. Frontiers in Plant Science. 13:869582. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.869582.
Shen, Y., Babu, K.S., Amamcharla, J., Li, Y. 2022. Emulsifying properties of pea protein/guar gum conjugates and mayonnaise application. International Journal of Food Science and Technology. 57:3955–3966. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijfs.15564.
Shen, Y., Hong, S., Du, Z., Chao, M., O'Quinn, T., Li, Y. 2021. Effect of adding modified pea protein as functional extender on the physical and sensory properties of beef patties. LWT - Food Science and Technology. 154. Article 112774. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2021.112774.
Tang, X., Shen, Y., Zhang, Y., Schilling, M., Li, Y. 2021. Parallel comparison of functional and physicochemical properties of common pulse proteins. LWT - Food Science and Technology. 146. Article 111594. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2021.111594.
Didinger, C., Thompson, H.J. 2021. Defining nutritional and functional niches of legumes: A call for clarity to distinguish a future role for pulses in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Nutrients. 13. Article 1100. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13041100.
Kadyan, S., Sharma, A., Arjmandi, B.H., Singh, P., Nagpal, R. 2022. Prebiotic potential of dietary beans and pulses and their resistant starch for aging-associated gut and metabolic health. Nutrients. 14. Article 1726. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14091726.
Hall, A.E., Moraru, C.I. 2021. Effect of high pressure processing and heat treatment on in vitro digestibility and trypsin inhibitor activity in lentil and faba bean protein concentrates. LWT - Food Science and Technology. 152. Article 112342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2021.112342.
Hall, A.E., Moraru, C.I. 2021. Structure and function of pea, lentil and faba bean proteins treated by high pressure processing and heat treatment. LWT - Food Science and Technology. 152. Article 112349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2021.112349.
Lutsiv, T., Mcginley, J.N., Neil-Mcdonald, E.S., Weir, T.L., Foster, M.T., Thompson, H.J. 2022. Relandscaping the gut microbiota with a whole food: Dose–response effects to common bean. Foods. 11. Article 1153. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11081153.
Didinger, C., Thompson, H.J. 2022. The role of pulses in improving human health: A review. Legume Science. Article e147. https://doi.org/10.1002/leg3.147.
Brick, M.A., Kleintop, A., Echeverria, D., Kammlade, S., Brick, L.A., Osorno, J.M., Mcclean, P., Thompson, H.J. 2022. Dry bean: A protein-rich superfood with carbohydrate characteristics that can close the dietary fiber gap. Frontiers in Plant Science. 13. Article 914412. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.914412.
Lutsiv, T., Weir, T.L., Mcginley, J.N., Neil, E.S., Wei, Y., Thompson, H.J. 2021. Compositional changes of the high-fat diet-induced gut microbiota upon consumption of common pulses. Nutrients. 13. Article 3992. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13113992.