Variation in Nutritional Composition of Australian Mungbean Varieties

Australian mungbean production is primarily focused in Central and Southern Queensland and Northern NSW, with around 95% of the total mungbean crop exported as a commodity to overseas markets. Significant improvement in pulse crops such as mungbean have primarily been achieved from plant breeding approaches focused on increasing yield and disease resistance. Whilst this remains crucial for the ongoing success and production of the crop, further improvements could be achieved through an increased understanding of nutritional variation, varietal performance and the impact of environmental and agronomic factors on overall nutritional quality. In this survey, the primary objective was to evaluate and compare the nutritional composition of three commercial Australian mungbean varieties (Crystal, Satin II and Celera II-AU), grown in different regions in Queensland (Warra and Hermitage sites) and New South Wales (Liverpool Plains and Northern NSW sites). Mungbean varieties were evaluated in terms of visual seed appearance, measuring seed colour and size, prior to comprehensive nutritional evaluation of milled mungbean flours in order to determine the extent of variation between varieties and regions. Moisture, protein, ash, fat, dietary fibre (total, insoluble and soluble fibre), starch and amylose composition, starch pasting properties (RVA profile) and amino acid compositions were evaluated and compared. This survey may potentially lead to a larger scale evaluation in the future, broadening the scope to include other significant Australian pulse crops such as faba bean and chickpea. Ultimately, the information gathered from this survey may assist plant breeders, producers and processors in regard to improving, growing, processing and value-adding Australian mungbean for both domestic and export markets.