Effects of different harvesting times on protein content and mineral nutrient values of some lentil (Lens culinaris) cultivars seeds

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of different harvesting times (early, on-time and late harvest) and lentil varieties (DR13127, Sakar, Kafkas, Bukun, Firat-87, Cagıl) on protein content (PC) and mineral nutritional values of some lentil cultivars seeds and determine the correlations between PC and mineral concentrations, and between minerals concentrations themselves. The results of the study indicated that while the late harvesting increased the potassium (K) and calcium (Ca) concentrations of lentil seed, magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), and nickel (Ni) concentrations were higher in early harvesting than other two harvesting times. There was significant difference among genotypes for the Ca, Mg, zinc (Zn), Na, copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), and Ni concentrations in seed. It was found that the varieties had no statistically significant effect on PC, K, iron (Fe) and selenium (Se) content of the seeds. It was found that the varieties had statistically significant effects at the level of p ≤ 0.01 on Ca, Mn, and Ni content of the seeds, at the level of p ≤ 0.05 on Mg and Na content of the seeds, and at the level of p ≤ 0.1 on Zn and Cu content of the seeds. Also, the significant correlations between mineral concentrations and PC and mineral concentrations were found in this study. Consequently, it can be said that the harvesting time and variety is critical for some mineral nutrient values of lentil seed. Information obtained from this study will be useful for lentil producers, breeders, processors and marketers.

Keywords:

• harvesting time
• lentil
• mineral content
• protein content
• variety

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Behiye Tuba BICER for her support in field trials. I also want to thank Enes ARICA and Nasrettin GENLI for their support in laboratory analysis. I would also like to express my gratitude to Mehmet Salih SAYAR for his valuable comments on this article which considerably helped me improve the quality of the manuscript.