Phytochemical components of beach pea (Lathyrus maritimus L.)

The presence and contents of phytochemicals, namely trypsin inhibitor, phenolics, different types of phosphorous, oligosaccharides, non-protein nitrogen, phytic acid, condensed tannins and beta-N-oxalylamino-L-alanine (BOAA) in beach pea seeds and plant parts were determined. Beach pea seeds contained trypsin inhibitor activity (417 TIU/g), phenolic acids in the free (178 mg/100 g), esterified (75 mg/100 g), and insoluble-bound (81 mg/100 g) forms, different types of phosphorous in amounts of 88 mg/100g (non-precipitated by ferric ion) to 189 mg/100 g (extracted in 1.2% HCl+10% Na2SO4) and oligosaccharides (raffinose, stachyose and verbascose, 0.33, 1.37 and 0.73%, respectively). Beach pea plant parts contained non-protein nitrogen, from 7.7% (mature pod shells) to 25% (fresh green seeds), phytic acid, from 42 mg/100 g (fresh green pod shells) to 370 mg/100 g (mature seeds), phenolics, from 0.52% (branches plus stems) to 1.45% (fresh green seeds), condensed tannins, from 0.95% (branches plus stems) to 11.7% (mature seeds) and a BOAA content of 4.02 mg/100 g in seeds containing both mature and immature components, 2.90 mg/100 g in fresh green seeds and 0.65 mg/100 g in branches plus stems. The presence of saponin, group B, in beach pea seeds was also confirmed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.