Nutritional value and content of antinutritional compounds and toxics in ten wild legumes of Yucatan Peninsula.

The chemical and toxicological composition of ten wild legumes collected in Yucatan, Mexico was determined. For each species the whole fruit, (seed and pod), were studied as well as the seed and pod separately. A higher protein content was found in the seeds of A. lebbeck and P. saman (37.07 and 37.60% respectively). In the seeds of L. longystilus, C. yucatanensis and P. keyense a high concentration of fat was found, especially in the first with 31.34%. A high quantity of fiber was found in the pods. In general, the samples were rich in lysine (especially seeds) and scant in sulfur amino acids and tryptophan. All the samples showed high concentration of potassium and calcium. Some of them exhibited significant concentrations of iron. The pods of P. saman and P. keyense showed a high content of lectins. In the seeds of C. yucatanensis and in the pod of P. keyense high concentrations of trypsin inhibitors were found 60 and 406.7 TUI/mg sample respectively. The presence of saponins, was detected in seven samples, of which the seed of P. keyense had the highest concentration. Alkaloids were found only in the whole fruit and pod of P. saman and cyanogenic glucosides were present in A. pennatula. In general terms, the whole legume showed better digestibility than the pods alone.