Apios americana

American groundnut
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Apios
Species: A. americana
Binomial name
Apios americana
Medikus
Synonyms

A. tuberosa Moench

Apios americana, sometimes called the potato bean, hopniss, Indian potato, hodoimo, America-hodoimo, American groundnut,or groundnut (but not to be confused with other plants sometimes known by the name groundnut) is a perennial vine that bears edible beans and large edible tubers.[1] Its vine can grow to 1–6 m long, with pinnate leaves 8–15 cm long with 5–7 leaflets.[1] The flowers are usually pink, purple, or red-brown, and are produced in dense racemes 7.5–13 cm in length.[1] The fruit is a legume (pod) 5–13 cm long.[1] Botanically speaking, the tubers are rhizomatous stems, not roots.[2] Its natural range is from Southern Canada (including Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick) down through Florida and West as far as the border of Colorado.[1]

Nutrition

The tubers are highly palatable with culinary characteristics of a potato, although the flavor can be somewhat nuttier than a potato and the texture can be finer.[3] Studies in rats suggest that raw tubers should not be consumed because they contain protease inhibitors whereas cooking destroys the protease inhibitors rendering the tubers safe to eat.[4] Tubers contain roughly three times the protein content of a potato (16.5% by dry weight), and the amino acid balance is good with the exception of cysteine and methionine.[5] The fatty acid content of tubers is approximately 4.2% to 4.6% with linoleic fatty acids predominating.[6] Thirty-six percent of the fresh weight of a tuber is carbohydrate (primarily starch).[7] The tubers are also an excellent source of calcium and iron.[7] Calcium content is 10-fold greater than a potato and iron is 2-fold greater than a potato, although vitamin C was considerably less than a potato.[7] In addition, the tubers appear to have numerous health promoting factors. Hypertensive rats that were fed powdered tubers as 5% of their total diet experienced a 10% decrease in blood pressure and also a reduction in cholesterol and triglycerides.[8] It has been shown that the tubers contain genistein and other isoflavones that have various health benefits, including an anticarcinogenic function against colon, prostate, and breast cancer.[9][10]

Cultivation in Japan and South Korea

The only place in the world today where American groundnut are commercially farmed in any significant quantities is in Japan. Before American groundnut was introduced to Japan, the people on the main island of Honshu and the Northern island of Hokkaido were already familiar with a native, wild plant there called hodoimo (Apios fortunei) that was occasionally eaten as an emergency food.[7] It is believed that sometime during the Meiji period (1868-1912) American groundnut was accidentally or deliberately brought to Japan.[7][8][10][11][12] One theory is that American groundnut was accidentally brought to Japan as a stowaway weed among apple seedlings imported from North America.[8][10] Another theory is that American groundnut may have been deliberately brought to Japan in the middle of the Meiji period as an ornamental flower.[7][11] It is now considered a culinary specialty of the Aomori prefecture where American groundnut agriculture is centered and where it has been eaten for more than 100 years.[13][14] Although American groundnut agriculture is primarily identified with agriculture in the Aomori prefecture, it is grown in the nearby prefectures of Akita and Miyagi as well.[12] In addition, it is known to be grown in the Southern part of Honshu in the Tottori prefecture, and radioactive testing records following the Fukushima nuclear disaster record cesium testing of American groundnut agricultural products in the central prefecture of Tochigi.[12][15] An important part of the spread and popularization of American groundnut consumption in Japan has been the efforts of Dr. Kiyochika Hoshikawa to promote the cultivation of this crop in Japan and the flurry of scientific articles on the health benefits of eating American groundnut tubers.[8] Japanese websites that sell American groundnut continue to emphasize its health benefits in their marketing efforts.[14][16] There are reports of American groundnut cultivation in South Korea as well where it is grown for its nutritional benefits[17]

Native American Usage of American groundnut

The tubers were a staple food among most Native American groups within the natural range of the plant.[18] In 1749, the travelling Swedish botanist Peter Kalm writes, “Hopniss or Hapniss was the Indian name of a wild plant, which they ate at that time... The roots resemble potatoes, and were boiled by the Indians who ate them instead of bread.”[18] Strachey in 1612 recorded observations of the Native Americans found in Virginia: “In June, July, and August they feed upon roots of tockohow, berries, groundnutts, fish, and greene wheate...”[18] In Eastern Canada, the Jesuit missionary, Le Jeune, observed that the Native Americans there would, “eat, besides, roots, such as the bulbs of the red lily; ... another that our French people call ‘Rosary’ because it is distinguished by tubers in the form of beads.”[18] The early author Rafinesque observed that the Creeks were cultivating the plant for both its tubers and seeds.[18] The author Brinton wrote in 1885 in regards to the Lenape people, “Of wild fruits and plants they consumed the esculent and nutritious tubers on the roots of the Wild Bean, Apios tuberosa... which the Indians called hobbenis...”[18] In 1910, Parker writes that the Iroquois were consumer significant quantities of groundnuts up until about 30 years before his writing.[18] The Paris Documents of 1666 record that the sixth tribe of the second division of the Iroquois were identified as, “that of the Potatoe, which they call Schoneschironon” and an illustration of tubers is found in the Paris Documents with the explanation, “This is the manner they paint the tribe of the Potatoe.”[18] The author Gilmore records the use of groundnuts by the Caddoan and Siouan tribes of the Missouri river region, and the authors Prescott and Palmer record its use among the Sioux.[18] The Native Americans would prepare the tubers in many different ways. Many tribes peeled them and dried them in the sun, such as the Menomini who built scaffolds of cedar bark covered with mats to dry their tubers for winter use.[18] The Menomini would sometimes dry the tubers in maple syrup or make a preserve of Groundnut tubers by boiling them in maple syrup.[18] The Potawatomi traditionally boiled their tubers.[18] The Meskwaki and Chippewa would peel, parboil, slice, and dry the tubers, and the Chippewa were fond of using the tubers as a sort of seasoning in all their foods.[18]

European Usage of American Groundnut

The Europeans learned to use the American groundnut from the Native Americans. As a result, the American groundnut became interwoven with the history of the American colonies and Europe. The early traveler John Brereton was sustained by the, “good meat” and “medicinable” qualities of American groundnut during his travels in New England in 1602.[18] In 1613, the followers of Beincourt at Port Royal ate the tubers to help them live in the New World.[18] The American groundnut was an important factor in the survival of the Pilgrims during the first few winters of their settlement.[19] In 1623, the Pilgrims, “having but a small quantity of corn left,” were “enforced to live on groundnuts... and such other things that the country afforded... and were easily gotten...”.[18] The Pilgrims were taught to find and prepare American groundnut by the Wampanoag people.[3] It seems quite probable that groundnut would have been eaten at the harvest festival of November 1621 that is regarded as the first Thanksgiving, although only venison was specifically named as a food item at this meal by a Pilgrim eyewitness account. It is believed that American groundnut may have made it back to Europe as early as 1597 and it was listed as a European garden crop in 1885.[1] It was evaluated as a possible alternative potato crop in Ireland in 1845 during the potato famine.[1] These early introductions to Europe appear to have resulted in little or no assimilation of the new food into the European diet.[1] A primary reason for this lack of assimilation was that the two-year cycle for an acceptable tuber yield did not match the cropping systems that were familiar to Europeans.[1]

Domestication

American groundnut is generally considered to be an undomesticated crop. Interestingly, Gretchen Beardsley in her 1939 description of the Native American utilization of American groundnut states that several historical sources describe the “cultivation” of American groundnut by Native Americans, although she dismisses the ambiguous term “cultivation” as perhaps the transplantation of tubers near a settlement, and she quotes the historical author Waugh on this subject of cultivation: “sometimes planted in suitable locations, though they are not, strictly speaking, cultivated.”[18] It appears that all subsequent authors on American groundnut have followed Gretchen Beardsley’s interpretation of “cultivation” when referring to the early utilization of American groundnut by Native Americans. In 1985, Dr. William J. Blackmon, Dr. Berthal D. Reynolds, and their colleagues at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge LA began a program of deliberate domestication of American groundnut with the primary goal of developing an American groundnut that can produce a significant yield in a single season.[1][3][19] Early trials identified LA85-034 as a promising cultivar with, “elongate tubers of uniform, medium size with light brown skin and little extra rhizomatous material”.[19] By 1988, they had collected wild seeds and tubers from 210 plants found in 19 states, although the bulk of their selections came from the state of Louisiana.[1] From these wild materials, and a small number of single crosses, they rigorously selected for plants that met their primary breeding goals of (1) larger tuber size, (2) denser tuber set, (3) single season production, and (4) productivity in untrellised cultivation.[1] The American groundnut domestication program at Louisiana State University continued in various forms until the mid-1990s.[3] Cultivars from this program can still occasionally be found available from small seed companies. The largest germplasm collection of Apios americana cultivars today is found at Iowa State University under the direction of Dr. Steven Cannon.[17] It is maintained there for scholarly and academic use. Research continues on the domestication of American groundnut at Iowa State University.[17][20] Despite these efforts at domestication, the American groundnut remains largely uncultivated and underutilized in North America and Europe.[3]

Nitrogen Fixation

American groundnut fixes its own nitrogen, which could be a great advantage in comparison to other roots crops, such as potatoes, true yams, and sweet potatoes, that do not fix their own nitrogen and require large nitrogen fertilizer inputs.[21] American groundnut can be nodulated by bacterial strains that are normally found in symbiosis with soybeans or cowpeas.[21] Research has been done on the potential of the soybean strain B. japonicum to nodulate American groundnut.[21] It was found that plants nodulated with B. japonicum yielded ~30% better than unnodulated plants if no nitrogen fertilizer was used.[21] It was also determined that nodulated plants partitioned more carbon into non-edible shoots when they were given nitrogen fertilizer whereas unnodulated plants responded to nitrogen fertilizer with greater tuber yields than nodulated plants.[21]

Ploidy genetics

American groundnut is normally 2n=2x=22, diploid, but both diploid and triploid forms exist.[1] Only diploids are capable of producing seeds; triploids will produce flowers but not seeds.[22] Thus, triploids are entirely dependent on tuber division for propagation whereas diploids can be propagated through both seeds and tubers.[22] Other than seed production, there are no easily identifiable differences between diploids and triploids.[22] Triploids are generally found in the Northern part of American groundnut’s range whereas diploids predominate in the Southern part of the range.[22] Triploids have been identified in the provinces or states of New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Iowa.[22][23][24] A few diploids have been found in the Northeastern part of the range, such as along the Black River in Ontario.[23] All samples tested in the Southeastern United States have been found to be diploid.[22][23][24]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 Reynolds, Berthal D.; William J. Blackmon; E. Wickremesinhe; MH Wells; RJ Constantin (1990). "Domestication of Apios americana". Advances in New Crops: 436–442.
  2. ↑ Juliarni, YG; T Nakamura et al. (1997). "Tuberization in Apios (Apios americana Medicus) I. Developmental morphology of tuber". Jpn. J. Crop Sci. 66 (3): 466–471. doi:10.1626/jcs.66.466.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Dean, Tamara (2007). "Stalking the Wild Groundnut". Orion Magazine. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  4. ↑ Johnson, SE (1988). Protein quality evaluation and metabolic effects of Apios americana Medikus tubers. Baton Rouge, LA: MS thesis, Louisiana State University.
  5. ↑ Wilson, PW; FJ Pichardo; JA Liuzzo; WJ Blackmon; BD Reynolds (1987). "Amino Acids in the American Groundnut (Apios americana)". Journal of Food Science 52 (1): 224–225. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2621.1987.tb14013.x.
  6. ↑ Wilson, PW; JR Gorney; WJ Blackmon; BG Reynolds (1986). "Fatty acids in the American groundnut (Apios americana)". Journal of Food Science 51 (5): 1387–1388. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2621.1986.tb13136.x.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Kinugasa, H; Y Watanabe (1992). "Nutritional composition of the tubers of American groundnut (Apios americana Medikus)". Sonoda Women's College Studies 26: 209–218.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Iwai, K; H Matsue (2007). "Ingestion of Apios americana Medikus tuber suppresses blood pressure and improves plasma lipids in spontaneously hypertensive rats". Nutrition Research 27: 218–224. doi:10.1016/j.nutres.2007.01.012.
  9. ↑ Krishnan, HB (1998). "Identification of genistein, an anticarcinogenic compound, in the edible tubers of the American groundnut (Apios americana Medikus)". Crop Science 38 (4): 1052–1056. doi:10.2135/cropsci1998.0011183x003800040028x.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Nara, K; KI Nihei; Y Ogasawara; H Koga; J Kato (2011). "Novel isoflavone diglycerides in groundnut (Apios americana Medik)". Food Chemistry 124: 703–710. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2010.05.107.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Hidemasa, Shimada. "Hodoimo America (USA Katamariimo)". Atomi University, Japan. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Hoshikawa, Kiyochika; Juliarni (1995). "The Growth of Apios (Apios americana Medikus) a New Crop, under Field Conditions". Jpn. J. Crop Sci. 64 (2): 323–327. doi:10.1626/jcs.64.323.
  13. ↑ Ichige, Marina; E Fukuda; S Miida et al. (2013). "Novel Isoflavone glucosides in Groundnut (Apios americana Medik) and their Antiandrogenic Activities". Journal of Agricultural and Food Sciences 61: 2183–2187. doi:10.1021/jf305233t.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Groundnut". Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  15. ↑ Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare Japan. "Radioactivity Database". Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  16. ↑ Ryuichi, Suzuki. "Suzukien". Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Belamkar, Vikas; VG Bhattacharya; SR Kalberer; WJ Blackmon; NT Weeks; AD Farmer; A Wenger; SB Cannon (January 2014). "Identification of Superior Germplasm and Development of Genetic Resources for Apios americana: A potential New Legume Crop". Plant & Animal Genome XXII meeting. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 18.6 18.7 18.8 18.9 18.10 18.11 18.12 18.13 18.14 18.15 18.16 Beardsley, Gretchen (1939). "The Groundnut as used by the Indians of Eastern North America". Papers of the Michigan Academy of Sciences Arts and Letters 25: 507–525.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Blackmon, William J; Berthal D Reynolds (1986). "The Crop Potential of Apios americana - preliminary evaluations". HortScience 21 (6): 1334–1336.
  20. ↑ Cannon, Steven B.; Vikas Belamkar (October 2012). "Using high-throughput sequencing data to speed the domestication of Apios americana - a potential new legume crop" (PDF). VI International Conference on Legume Genetics and Genomics: abstract S–EAD03. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 Putnam, DH; GH Heichel; LA Field (1991). "Response of Apios americana to Nitrogen and Inoculation". HortScience 26 (7): 853–855.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 Bruneau, Anne; Gregory J. Anderson (1988). "Reproductive Biology of Diploid and Triploid Apios americana (Leguminosae)". Amer. J. Bot. 75 (12): 1876–1883. doi:10.2307/2444742.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Seabrook, Janet A.; Leo A. Dionne (1976). "Studies on the genus Apios. I. Chromosome number and distribution of Apios americana and A. priceana". Can. J. Bot. 54: 2567–2572. doi:10.1139/b76-276.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Joly, Simon; Anne Bruneau (2004). "Evolution of Triploidy in Apios americana (Leguminosae) Revealed by Genealogical Analysis of the Histone H3-D Gene". Evolution 58 (2): 284–295. doi:10.1111/j.0014-3820.2004.tb01645.x.

External links

Tubers Apios americana