Pulses: an important part of the food system

Dr Nadia Radzman, a research associate in plant biology at the University of Cambridge in the UK, speaks about nutrient-packed pulses and the vital role they play in food security.

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"Each year on 10 February, the UN commemorates what probably sounds to many like a strange occasion: World Pulses Day.

However, as a researcher focused on forgotten and underutilised legumes, I think the initiative is an important step towards food security. Getting people to eat more pulses can ultimately help achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger.

For clarification, ‘legumes’ and ‘pulses’ have different meanings. Legumes are all the plants that belong to the Leguminosae or Fabaceae family, while pulses are the dried seeds of legume plants. The latter include beans, chickpeas and lentils.

One reason that legume plants offer such promise in ending hunger is that they don’t need good soil or nitrogen fertiliser to grow.

Plants need nitrogen to build important molecules such as protein and DNA, but most legumes can thrive in poor soil by fixing nitrogen from the air for their own use.

This happens through the symbiotic interaction with friendly bacteria known as rhizobia, which are housed inside structures called nodules

on the plant’s roots. But that’s not the only interesting thing about legumes and pulses.

In honour of World Pulses Day 2023, I would like to highlight five pulses that have unique properties and stories.

1.THE AFRICAN YAM BEAN

The African yam bean (Sphenostylis stenocarpa) offers two types of food: beans and underground tubers. The tubers have a higher protein content than any non-legume tuber crop, such as potato and cassava, and the beans are also high in protein.