Location: Potato, Pulse and Small Grains Quality Research
2024 Annual Report
Objectives
Coordinate the implementation of the pulse health initiative for expanded pulse crops research in the areas of human health and nutrition, pulse ingredient functionality, pulse crop quality, pulse-based cropping system sustainability, and global food security. Research should be coordinated with interested ARS, state, and industry cooperators, and administered through non-assistance cooperative agreements. Planning workshops and annual meetings involving interested parties will be organized throughout the funding period.
Approach
Cooperative studies will focus on dry bean, dry pea, chickpea, or lentil research (or a combination of pulse crops) in the following priority areas: (1) Determine the role of pulse food consumption in a healthy diet with an emphasis on the biological mechanisms that impact key health endpoints (e.g., glycemic control, cardiovascular risk factors, obesity/overweight, metabolic syndrome, inflammation, or microbiome composition); (2) Determine the optimal daily/weekly amount of pulse intake as it pertains to overall diet quality, nutrition, and/or health outcomes (e.g., via modeling, nutrition data analysis, or human studies); (3) Assess National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data or other major sources of nutrition data in the U.S. to compare overall diet quality, nutrition outcomes, or health outcomes for high versus low pulse-containing diets; (4) Determine the nutrition and/or health benefits of pulse consumption at various life stages; (5) Determine consumption patterns of pulse foods and pulse ingredients among U.S. consumers and the barriers and facilitators to pulse consumption; (6) Determine the role of dietary fiber, oligosaccharides, and other prebiotics from pulse crops in altering the composition and promoting beneficial attributes of a healthy gut microbiome; (7) Identify biomarkers of intake for various pulses; (8) Determine whether/how processing changes the health benefits or energy value of pulse foods; (9) Optimize processing conditions and formulations to improve the acceptability, flavor, nutritional value, or health attributes of pulse-based foods; (10) Develop high-throughput functionality measures that can be used by breeders and industry to assess functional characteristics of novel germplasm or current varieties; (11) Evaluate functional properties of protein and other pulse fractions/ingredients and optimize their use in food applications; (12) Determine the variability in chemical/nutritional composition of pulse crops and determine factors (agronomic, genetic or environmental) that influence that variation; (13) Determine factors (genetic or environmental) affecting the functional properties of pulse foods as ingredients; (14) Develop pulse varieties with improved nutritional or functional attributes, combined with enhanced agronomic traits; (15) Assess the water footprint and demonstrate the value of improved water use efficiency in pulse-small grain cropping systems (e.g., field studies; life-cycle analyses); (16) Determine the carbon footprint and assess the value of pulse cropping systems on soil carbon sequestration and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; (17) Develop improved pulse varieties that fix more nitrogen and identify enhanced plant-rhizobia interactions that yield superior nitrogen fixing capacity and leave greater residual nitrogen in soil; (18) Develop agronomic strategies to improve soil health through the incorporation of pulses in a cropping system rotation; (19) Assess the impacts of incorporating pulses in U.S. diets at varying levels on various sustainability outcomes (e.g., soil health, greenhouse gas emissions, land use area, water use).
Progress Report
The Pulse Crop Health Initiative, administered through the Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center in Fargo, North Dakota, has used cooperative research to develop pulse crops research to improve pulse crop functionality, quality, and sustainability, and improve global food security. Cooperative projects were established in FY23 and FY24 with University and federal collaborators. Projects were established through non-assistance cooperative agreements with University faculty or through temporary funds transfers to ARS scientists at other locations. There are 42 continuing projects in FY25 that will be carried into the next project cycle, and 13 newly funded projects. All studies throughout the life of the project have focused on the following priority areas: (1) the role of pulse consumption in human health improvement and chronic disease prevention, (2) understanding functionality traits of pulse ingredients for use in human food products, (3) breeding pulse crops for nutritional quality and food security, or (4) sustainability benefits of including pulse crops in various production systems. Research covered all target pulse crops, including peas, lentils, chickpeas, dry beans, and cowpeas. Research plans of work are requested for the fiscal year funding cycle. Proposals were reviewed and ranked by one of three scientific review panels focused on human health, breeding and sustainability, or food technology. The Initiative Steering Committee met and made recommendations on which projects to fund, with attention given to the research priority areas of Breeding, Sustainability, Food Technology, and Human Health.
Accomplishments
