Grant: Alliance Grants

The protein quality of leguminous crops, which depends on amino acid content and digestibility, is a crucial parameter for domestic and global consumers. This research project aims to bridge the gap between breeding programs and end-use quality for peas, the most economically important leguminous crop in Canada, by developing rapid screening methods that can enhance protein traits based on nutritional potential and modernize data for protein labelling claims. This innovative project brings microfluidics, a cutting-edge technology that is revolutionizing biomedicine, into agriculture to breed crops with desired genetic traits. Herein, we aspire to develop a state-of-the-art microfluidics-based lab-on-a-chip and NIR/FTIR/Raman spectroscopy for rapid detection of pulse protein and amino acid content. Our diverse team, which brings together a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Manitoba, the National Research Council, and Canadian Light Source along with representatives from the Canadian pulse sector i.e., Saskatchewan Pulse Growers and Pulse Canada, will execute the project and train a total of twelve highly qualified personnel. The outcome of this seminal project will help plant breeders prioritize end-use quality traits, including techno-functional attributes in varietal development and selection to breed new lines of legumes containing sulphur-rich amino acids. These new varieties will make pulses viable replacements for animal protein products. Moreover, with higher protein quality and utilizing measures like protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score, consumers will be assured that their pulse-based foods contain the proteins stated on food labels.