Multi-environment field trials indicate strong genetic control of seed polyphenol accumulation in faba bean

Abstract The interest towards faba bean as a source of plant-based protein is strongly increasing and the improvement of faba bean grain quality is pivotal to achieve a wider adoption by the food and feed industries. This study characterizes ten faba bean cultivars grown in a multi-environment field trial in Norway for their seed phenolic profile using untargeted liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (LC–MS). The analyses identified 84 major phenolic compounds that significantly variates in their content across cultivars and locations. Variance component (VC) analyses found that genotype (G) and genotype by location (G × L) interaction VC were significant for all the identified compounds, with G having the strongest contribution to the phenotypic variance. Multivariate analyses indicated sizable differences in the phenolic profile of wild type/tannin containing cultivars, which were categorized in two distinguishable clusters mainly due to their different content of proanthocyanidins, prodelphinidins and flavan-3-ols. These results suggest that the improvement of faba bean grain quality can be achieved through breeding of new cultivars with specific phenolic profiles having enhanced health and nutritional properties.