Publications by authors named "Thomas Warkentin"

Despite being an effective and clean-label method, heat-moisture treatment (HMT) is not commonly used for starch modification in industry due to the difficulty of scale-up. This study aimed to develop a novel method of using extrusion combined with high-temperature drying (EHTD) as an alternative to HMT for starch modification. Pea starch was subjected to extrusion at 37.

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Nutrient requirements for para-athletes will be influenced by a variety of factors secondary to their impairment and, therefore, recommendations for para-athletes cannot be drawn directly from that of able-bodied athletes. Information on the dietary intakes of para-athletes is lacking and therefore needs to be examined. This study assessed the nutrient intakes and diet quality of 31 paracyclists via food frequency questionnaires.

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Article Synopsis
  • Monocarpic plants only flower and produce seeds once in their life, using all their energy during this time.
  • Researchers found that when seeds start to form, it signals the plant to stop growing more flowers, a process regulated by specific genes.
  • A study showed that this gene control is not just in one type of plant (like Arabidopsis) but also in other monocarpic plants such as field peas, which could help improve crop production.
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Improving the seed protein concentration (SPC) of pea ( L.) has turned into an important breeding objective because of the consumer demand for plant-based protein and demand from protein fractionation industries. To support the marker-assisted selection (MAS) of SPC towards accelerated breeding of improved cultivars, we have explored two diverse recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations to identify the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with SPC.

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Dry pea () seeds are valuable sources of plant protein, dietary fiber, and starch, but their uses in food products are restricted to some extent due to several off-flavor compounds. Saponins are glycosylated triterpenoids and are a major source of bitter, astringent, and metallic off-flavors in pea products. () is the entry point enzyme for saponin biosynthesis in pea and therefore is an ideal target for knock-out using CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing to produce saponin deficient pea varieties.

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Heat-moisture treatment (HMT) was employed to modify wrinkled pea (74.2 % and 76.5 % amylose) and round pea starches (35.

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Soybean is an important global source of plant-based protein. A persistent trend has been observed over the past two decades that soybeans grown in western Canada have lower seed protein content than soybeans grown in eastern Canada. In this study, 10 soybean genotypes ranging in average seed protein content were grown in an eastern location (control) and three western locations (experimental) in Canada.

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Iron deficiency (ID) is the most prevalent micronutrient deficiency in the world and the leading cause of anemia globally. Female athletes are at a disproportionate risk for ID due to blood loss through menstruation and decreased iron absorption secondary to exercise. Field peas are a rich source of iron but, similar to iron from other plant-based sources, the iron has limited bioavailability due to high levels of phytic acid, an inherent compound that binds to cations, creating a salt (phytate), which limits absorption during digestion.

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With the expanding interest in plant-based proteins in the food industry, increasing emphasis is being placed on breeding for protein concentration and quality. Two protein quality traits i.e.

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Vegetal diamine oxidase (vDAO), an enzyme proposed to relieve symptoms of histaminosis, shows better reactivity with histamine and aliphatic diamines, as well as higher enzymatic activity than DAO of animal origin. The objective of this study was to evaluate the enzyme activity of vDAO from germinating grains from (grass pea) and (pea), and to verify the presence of a neurotoxin, β-N-Oxalyl-L-α,β-diaminopropionic acid (β-ODAP), in the crude extract obtained from their seedlings. A targeted liquid chromatography-multiple-reaction monitoring mass spectrometry method was developed and used to quantify β-ODAP in the analysed extracts.

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Over the past two decades soybeans grown in western Canada have persistently had lower seed protein than those grown in eastern Canada. To understand the discrepancy in seed protein content between eastern- and western-grown soybeans, RNA-seq and differential expression analysis have been investigated. Ten soybean genotypes, ranging from low to high in seed protein content, were grown in four locations across eastern (Ottawa) and western (Morden, Brandon, and Saskatoon) Canada.

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This research aimed to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with seed protein concentration in a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population of pea and aimed to validate the identified QTLs using chromosome segment-introgressed lines developed by recurrent backcrossing. PR-25, an RIL population consisting of 108 F7 bulked lines derived from a cross between CDC Amarillo (yellow cotyledon) and CDC Limerick (green cotyledon), was used in this research. The RIL population was genotyped using an Axiom 90K SNP array.

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Individuals may opt to follow a plant-based diet for a variety of reasons, such as religious practices, health benefits or concerns for animal or environmental welfare. Such diets offer a broad spectrum of health benefits including aiding in the prevention and management of chronic diseases. In addition to health benefits, a plant-based diet may provide performance-enhancing effects for various types of exercise due to high carbohydrate levels and the high concentration of antioxidants and phytochemicals found in a plant-based diet.

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Heat and drought, individually or in combination, limit pea productivity. Fortunately, substantial genetic diversity exists in pea germplasm for traits related to abiotic stress resistance. Understanding the genetic basis of resistance could accelerate the development of stress-adaptive cultivars.

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Field pea (Pisum sativum L.), a cool-season legume crop, is known for poor heat tolerance. Our previous work identified PR11-2 and PR11-90 as heat tolerant and susceptible lines in a recombinant inbred population.

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Field pea is a pulse that delivers high protein content, slowly digestible starch and fiber, and many vitamins and minerals, including iron. Naturally occurring plant phytic acid molecules bind iron, lowering its availability for absorption during digestion. Two low phytic acid () pea lines, 1-2347-144 and 1-150-81, developed by our group had 15% lower yield and 6% lower seed weight relative to their progenitor cultivar.

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A validated method for B vitamin separation and quantification from lentil seeds using ultra high performance liquid chromatography-selected reaction monitoring mass spectrometry (UHPLC-SRM MS) was reported. The use of three enzymes (acid phosphatase, β-glucosidase, and rat serum) with a 4 h incubation was sufficient to convert bound B vitamins into their free forms. Twenty B vitamers were selected and a 5-min UHPLC-SRM MS method was optimized for rapid analysis.

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Quantitative trait locus (QTL) analyses for carotenoids in chickpea were completed for three F populations. A moderate number of QTLs and candidate genes associated with carotenoid concentration in chickpea seeds were identified. Green cotyledon color is positively associated with provitamin A carotenoids.

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Wrinkled and round peas (two varieties each type) cultivated in two locations were milled to obtain fine and coarse wrinkled (WPF) and round pea flour (RPF). WPF exhibited markedly increased pasting viscosities at 120 and 140 °C compared with 95 °C. Overall, the pasting properties of WPF were considerably lower than those of RPF.

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Globally, two billion people suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. Cereal grains provide more than 50% of the daily requirement of calories in human diets, but they often fail to provide adequate essential minerals and vitamins. Cereal crop production in developing countries achieved remarkable yield gains through the efforts of the Green Revolution (117% in rice, 30% in wheat, 530% in maize, and 188% in pearl millet).

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Environmental stress hampers pea productivity. To understand the genetic basis of heat resistance, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted on six stress responsive traits of physiological and agronomic importance in pea, with an objective to identify the genetic loci associated with these traits. One hundred and thirty-five genetically diverse pea accessions from major pea growing areas of the world were phenotyped in field trials across five environments, under generally ambient (control) and heat stress conditions.

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Biofortification through plant breeding is a sustainable approach to improve the nutritional profile of food crops. The majority of the world's population depends on staple food crops; however, most are low in key micronutrients. Biofortification to improve the nutritional profile of pulse crops has increased importance in many breeding programs in the past decade.

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Genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted to identify loci associated with agronomic (days to flowering, days to maturity, plant height, seed yield and seed weight), seed morphology (shape and dimpling), and seed quality (protein, starch, and fiber concentrations) traits of field pea ( L.). A collection of 135 pea accessions from 23 different breeding programs in Africa (Ethiopia), Asia (India), Australia, Europe (Belarus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Lithuania, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine and United Kingdom), and North America (Canada and USA), was used for the GWAS.

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