An international research team, which includes plant geneticists from the University of Saskatchewan are working on a way to make fababeans an option for more global consumers.
While the faba bean plant is high in protein, well-suited to growing in colder climates and reduces the need for nitrogen fertilizer—there is one problem.
For an estimated 400 million people worldwide, eating fababean can have serious consequences.
In people deficient in a certain enzyme, eating fababean causes damage to a person’s red blood cells.
The disorder is known as favism.
USASK plant breeder and geneticist Dr. Bert Vandenburg says they can now reduce 99 percent of the compounds that cause favism.
He is confident that they should be able to zero in and shut it down 100 percent.
Some fababeans are grown in the northern Parkland region of Saskatchewan and Alberta.
It’s hoped that the crop could provide another option in grower rotations.
—-
