Marrowfat pea nutrient analysis with focus on carbohydrates and their enzymatic hydrolytic index to diversify its market nationally and internationally as healthy snack food

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Pulses are dried seeds of grain legumes, with carbohydrates (50 - 65%) as the predominant storage component followed by protein (18 - 30%), minor quantities of lipids, vitamins and minerals. Pulse proteins contain less methionine, but are rich in lysine, an essential amino acid deficient in cereal grains. The major pulse storage carbohydrate is starch, which has higher amount of amylose compared to cereal starch, that makes pulse starch less digestible. Pulse seeds also have high amount of complex carbohydrates that form the dietary fiber. Saskatchewan is the major pulse crop producer in Canada. Among the five major pulse crops grown in Canada, dry pea (Pisum sativum L.) is the largest grown on one and half million hectares producing from 3.1 to 4 million metric tons annually during the last three (2013 to 2015) crop years. Yellow pea is the predominant class, with very small amounts of green Marrowfat peas. In Canada, green Marrowfat pea is a relatively new pea type mostly targeted for snack food market. The proposed project will analyze the seed composition of green Marrowfat peas, with special emphasis on carbohydrates such as starch and complex carbohydrates that constitute dietary fiber. In depth analyses of starch composition and structure will be done to correlate it with starch enzymatic hydrolysis. The results will allow us to determine the amount of readily digestible starch (RDS), slow digestible starch (SDS) and non-digestible resistant starch (RS) in the green Marrowfat peas. The Resistant starch and Slowly Digestible Starch along with dietary fiber have been shown to have positive effect on satiety and weight control, with implications on better heart health and type-2 diabetes control. This information will be very helpful to market green Marrowfat pea as a healthy snack food and other food and / or industrial applications. The successful completion of this project will provide evidence to better inform the consumers about the health benefits and develop a new niche market for pulse producers and processors.