Composition of underexploited Indian pulses. Comparison with common legumes

There is increasing interest in finding new food sources to alleviate malnutrition in developing countries. Moth beans and horse gram are two underexploited Indian legumes growing in adverse conditions but their composition is little-known. Total and resistant starch (RS), dietary fibre (DF) and soluble sugars including oligosaccharides were determined, along with protein, fat, ash and polyphenols. They were compared with other legumes common in Asian and Western countries: black gram, green gram, haricot beans and chickpeas. No apparent differences among the proximate compositions were observed. All samples were rich in DF (18–31% d.m.), made mainly of insoluble DF, whilst RS varied between 3.4 and 8.3%. Oligosaccharides were the main soluble sugars in all legumes; haricot beans and chickpeas were rich in sucrose. All legumes had a high content of non-digestible carbohydrates (37–48% of carbohydrates). In summary, from the composition study, moth beans and horse gram are of a good nutritional quality, making them suitable for more extensive uses.