| Abstract: | Good- and poor-cooking Canadian cultivars of lentils, CDC Richlea, Rose and Laird, were compared for shear force, seed phosphorus (P), phytic acid (PA), water uptake and for seed coat composition and structure. Good-cooking CDC Richlea and Rose lentils (shear force 4.9 kg g?1) contained 24–33% more P and 48% more PA than poor-cooking lentils (shear force 7.0–8.1 kg g?1). The poor-cooking CDC Richlea lentil (shear force 8.1 kg g?1) had smaller hydration coefficients, solids lost, and water absorption than the good-cooking ientil (shear force 4.9 kg g?1), but differences disappeared in dehulled good- and poor-cooking lentils of the same cultivar. Regression analysis showed that the good- and poor-cooking lentils absorbed water at the same rate. Therefore, smaller water-uptake was not responsible for the poor-cooking condition. Seed coat compositions of good- and poor-cooking Laird lentils were generally similar; the major components of the seed coats were cellulose and hemicellulose, forming about 56% of the non-starch polysaccharide and lignin fractions. Light microscopy of isolated seed coats showed a more tightly packed epidermis layer and a larger, thicker cell-walled hypodermis layer in the poor-cooking lentil than in the good-cooking lentil. |
