Winged bean protein content

Protein quality studies evaluating various edible portions of the winged bean plant and the results of recent International Field Trials are reviewed. Research efforts have been focused upon the mature seed (protein content 20.7-45.9% in 240 accessions), which is occasionally eaten in parts of Indonesia and Papua, New Guinea. Autoclaved seed meal and wet heat treated seed meal provided a corrected PER value of 1.76 and 1.72 respectively, in comparison to casein control of 2.50. 

Nutrition research on winged bean has mainly focused upon the tough, mature seed, which is rich in protein and oil. The seeds are occasionally consumed in Indonesia and Papua NewGuinea (59, 60). A survey of 240 winged bean accessions from 16 countries showed that the protein and oil contents range between 20.7-45.9% and 7.2-21.5% respectively (13). Studies on the evaluation of seed flour as an alternative feed source for livestock has only recently begun. The two most commonly used plant protein sources in broiler (chicken) diets to date have been soybean and peanut cake (62). 

According to Masefield (7 ) the winged bean nodulated well wherever the crop has been grown, irrespective of whether the seed was inoculated or not. The mean protein contents (dry wt. basis + S.D.) of inoculated and uninoculated tubers of six strains originating from Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Indonesia, Papua, New Guinea and Thailand are reported as 20.0(+3.7) and 17.3(+6.2), respectively... 

Haulm (stem) The possibility of using winged bean haulm as a potential raw material for single cell protein production in the tropics has been investigated by Zomer et al. (78). Semi-sol id fermentation of haulm, using various fungi, yielded a product containing 20% true protein, a 30% increase over the native material. The fermentation also increased the sulfur amino acid content by 1.5 to 6 fold. 

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