Trypsin inhibitor activity of legume seeds (peas, chickling vetch, lentils, and soya beans) as affected by the technique of harvest

The effect of two techniques of harvest (a direct versus two-phase) applied to five legume plants (peas, chickling vetch, lentils, and soya beans) on gross chemical composition and trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA) of their seeds was studied in field experiments, over a 3-year period. The chemical composition of legume seeds reflected only interspecies differences between the plants and was not affected by the treatments. In contrast, TIA of the seeds was significantly (P < 0.05) altered by the techniques of harvest. The two-phase technique reduced TIA of pea cultivars by 27 and 44%, chickling vetch cultivars by 25 and 18%, a lentil cultivar by 8%, and soybean cultivars by 4 and 2%, respectively. It is concluded that improvements in nutritional value resulting from this agricultural practice are limited to pea and chickling vetch cultivars, whereas in the case of lentils and soya beans, the relative reduction of TIA is too small to consider the proposed method feasible. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.