Chemical Science International Journal

The importance of winged bean in nutrition, pharmaceutical fields, and agriculture is well known. It improves soil fertility as it helps to fix nitrogen into the soil. However, there are lots of factors militating against its development. Some of these factors like temperature, delay in flowering, susceptibility to insect infestation etc. needs to be worked upon if the promising benefits of winged bean will be fully harnessed. It is thus necessary to focus on its genetic diversity. In this study, proteins of seed and leaves of the three seed morphotypes of winged bean were extracted and screened for crude protein banding patterns using gel electrophoresis. Results showed the presence of banding patterns unique to each of the morphotypes and those common to them. The highest level of common bands was observed between black seeds of winged beans and deep brown seeds. Sokal and Sneath coefficient of similarity ranges from 19.05 – 33.33 for seed protein profile and 0.36 – 0.42 for the leaf protein profile. The study concluded that there exists a high level of genetic variations which could be exploited for crop improvement of this germplasm and to delimit each of this morphotypes.