Minerals (Zn, Fe, Ca and Mg) and Antinutrient (Phytic Acid) Constituents in Common Bean.

In this study, the variation of zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) and the interference of phytic acid (PA) on their availability was investigated in 29 US grown and CIAT breeding genotypes of common bean. Fe levels showed the highest variation (8.9-112.9 mg kg-1) followed by Ca (58.67-122.98 mg kg-1) and Zn (30.90-64.60 mg kg-1) while variability of Mg concentration (6.47-11.05 mg kg-1) is the least among the mineral components. PA showed a wide range of variability (12.52-316.42 m kg-1) and inversely correlated with Fe, Ca and Mg concentrations. The results of the minerals and PA concentration can be interpreted in terms of expected bio-availability of minerals and the correlation study indicated that the presence of high concentration of PA inhibit the availability of most minerals under study in common beans. We suggest that the genotypes, MIB466, MIB465, MIB152 and JaloEEP 558 could be considered as sources of high Zn and Vista and NUA56-1770 for high seed Fe. We also identified G122 for high Ca and JaloEEP558 genotype for high Mg. We conclude that there is scope for the enhancement of mineral contents of common bean by selecting suitable genotype and bean products require processing for dephytinization for the improvement of mineral availability.