Soybean has the potential to be termed the “crop of the future” due to its significant capacity to address protein-energy malnutrition and hidden hunger, particularly in developing countries where diets are predominantly based on wheat and rice. Despite its substantial nutritional value, numerous health benefits, and its versatility in various food and industrial applications, soybean’s full potential remains underutilized due to inherent off-flavors and the presence of antinutritional factors (ANFs). Gamma irradiation is known to have a positive impact by inducing structural and chemical changes in biomolecules like carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and other phytochemicals. This process leads to improved functionality and market demand by reducing ANFs and the off-flavor in soybeans. Scientifically, it has been demonstrated that low to moderate doses of gamma radiation, up to 10 kGy, can positively influence the antioxidant capacity of soybeans. This, in turn, helps control lipid and protein oxidation, reducing the generation of off-flavors and enhancing the quality and nutraceutical potential of soybeans.

α-galactooligosaccharides (α-GOS) are a class of non-nutritional compounds present in pulses. These carbohydrates are associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). This study explored the genotypic variability for α-GOS content in field pea and cowpea cultivars using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a refractive index detector (HPLC-RI). Verbacose, stachyose and raffinose were detected in field pea, whereas in cowpea, only stachyose and raffinose were detected, except the cultivar RC 101 in which verbascose was also found. The total α-GOS content varied from 65.89 ± 0.21 mg/g DW to 101.84 ± 0.33 mg/g DW and 78.78 ± 0.65 mg/g DW to 108.00 ± 0.49 mg/g DW in field pea and cowpea, respectively. The cultivars IPFD 16–13 and KBC 7 were identified as low α-GOS cultivars of field pea and cowpea, respectively. Further, three low-cost, sustainable processing methods, viz. soaking, cooking, and malting (12, 24, 48 and 72 h), were investigated for their effect on the α-GOS content of field pea and cowpea. The results from this study show that malting with 72 h of germination emerged as the most effective method in reducing the total α-GOS content. It reduced verbascose and stachyose content by 74.6 and 67.43% in field pea and by 44.82 and 69.64% in cowpea.

Background: The cold stress adversely affects the growth, survival and reproductive capacity of plants if the minimum temperature falls below 5°C. Information’s regarding cold stress and its impact on morphological characters, physio-biochemical constituents and yield attributes in cold tolerant and susceptible pigeon pea genotypes are very limited. Keeping the above facts in to consideration, the experiments were conducted. Methods: Field experiments were conducted during 2018-19 and 2019-20 with 34 genotypes of pigeon pea including checks (NDA-1, Bahar, IPA203, NDA-2, MAL-13, ICP2275, IPACT-2, MA-6, IPACT-3, IPACT-24, Rajendra Arhar, IPA15F, Dholi-D, JBT46/27, IPACT-6, IPACT-14, IPAD1-17, IPAC 68, IPACT 22, ICPL 7035 IPA19-101, IPA19-102, IPA19-103, IPA19-104, IPA19-105, IPA19-106, IPA19-107, IPA19-108, IPA19-109, IPA19-110, IPA19-111, IPA19-112, IPA19-113, IPA19-114) in RBD at ICAR-IIPR, Kanpur. Morphological and yield Characters including plant height, scoring of cold injury in exposed plants and Number of flower drop and pod set during the cold period in tagged plants were recorded. In biochemical/ crop efficiency parameters viz: Nitrogen balance index, chlorophyll, flavonols, anthocyanin’s and NDVI were measured. The photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, and transpiration rate were measured at the pod formation stage. Anti-oxidant enzymes activity was assayed as per standard methods. Meteorological observations during Cold stress were recorded. Result: Based on flower/pod drop and retention the genotypes like IPA 15F, Dholi dwarf, JBT46/27, IPACT-6, IPACT-14, IPAC-1-17, IPACT-68, IPACT-22, IPA 19-101, IPA 19-102, IPA 19-103, IPA 19-104, IPA 19-105, IPA 19-107, IPA 19-108, IPA 19-109, IPA 19-110, IPA 19-111 and IPA 19-113 were found susceptible to cold stress and retaining an average 51.67 % flowers/pods. Genotypes like NDA-2, MAL-13, ICP2275, IPACT-2, MA-6, IPACT-3, IPACT-24, Rajendra arhar, IPA19-106, IPA19-112 and IPA19-114 have retained more than an average of 67.48% flowers/pods are considered tolerant to cold stress. Amongst the tolerant group NDA-2, MAL-13, ICP2275, IPACT-2, IPA19-106, IPA19-112 retained the flower/pod more than the average of check genotypes (67.57%). Biochemical/plant efficiency parameters were superior in tolerant group over susceptible group.