Does a pea have its own fingerprint? This project will investigate if the metabolic fingerprint of a pea can be used to understand variations among different cultivars

We are currently undergoing a food transformation to a more plant-based diet. Consequently, there is an increasing interest in understanding the health potential of plant-based foods. Pea is a crop that has traditionally been grown in Denmark, but we currently know little about variations among different cultivars. Thus, cultivar could be expected to influence the metabolite composition of peas and thereby also their health-promoting potential. Proton (¹H) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is an analytical technique that allows a wide-ranging characterization of metabolites.

This project aims to investigate metabolite composition of different pea cultivars using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy coupled with multivariate data analysis with the purpose of establish knowledge on associations between pea cultivars and their health-promoting potential.