L-CANAVANINE AND L-ARGININE IN TWO WILD LEGUMES OF THE GENUS CANAVALIA

Different tissues (tender pods, ripened beans, ungerminated seeds, germinated seeds, tender leaves and senescent leaves) of two wild legumes (Canavalia cathartica and C. maritima) grown on the coastal sand dunes of the southwest India were assessed for L-canavanine and L-arginine. Raw seeds and raw ripened beans possess the highest quantity of L-canavanine in C. cathartica and C. matitima respectively. Cooking significantly decreased the L-canavanine content in raw and germinated seeds of C. cathartica and C. matitima (P < 0.01), so also in cooked tender pods of C. cathartica (P < 0.05). Raw germinated seeds of both C. cathartica and C. maritima possess the highest quantity of L-arginine. Significant decrease in L-arginine content was evident in cooked tender pods of C. cathartica (P < 0.05) and C. maritime (P < 0.01), so also in cooked germinated seeds of C. maritime (P < 0.05). Besides seeds and ripened beans, tender leaves of C. cathartica and C. maritima possess considerable amount of L-canavanine and L-arginine. As more biomass of tender leaves can be harvested from these wild legumes, they serve as potential source of commercially exploitable therapeutically/pharmaceutically/nutraceutically valuable L-canavanine and L-arginine.