Impact Factor : 0.641 (ISRA) ISSN No.

: 2279-0306
International Journal of Physical Education, Health & Sports Sciences (IJPEHSS) A Journal of Physical Education Foundation of India
th
National Conference on Interdisciplinary Approaches in Education, Physical Education, Sports & Yoga; 7 March. 2020

HORSE GRAM [MACROTYLOMA UNIFLORUM LAM. (VERDC.)]: A PERFECT AND COMPLETE INDIAN DIET

DR. KULKARNI GANESH B.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN BOTANY

JES'S R. G. BAGDIA ARTS, S. B. LAKHOTIA COMMERCE &
R. BEZONJI SCIENCE COLLEGE,
JALNA 431203 (M.S.)
E-mail:dr.kgb98@gmail.com.

ABSTRACT
Horse gram [Macrotyloma uniflorum Lam. (Verdc.)] is a pulse crop cultivated in various adverse climatic
conditions. Due to rich source of protein, minerals, and vitamins, it had been an important place in Indian
diet since ancient time. It has been also noted that non-nutritive substances such as fiber, Phytic acid,
Phenolic acid, proteinase inhibitors present in it. Similarly, horse gram used as a therapeutic agent to
cure some common diseases viz. kidney stones, urinary diseases, piles, common cold, throat infection,
fever etc. It had been also shows the scientific evidence that, the horse gram also helpful to fulfill the
demand of nutraceutical and functional food in Indian diet. As the horse gram has potential antioxidants
plays very significant role to decreases the risk of intestinal diseases, diabetes, coronary heart disease etc.
Keeping in these views this article exploring the horse gram, as a source of food and nutraceutical
compounds in Indian scenario.

Key words: Horse gram ,Anti-nutritional compounds, Prebiotic, non-nutritive substances,

Antioxidant, therapeutic agent

INTRODUCTION

Horse gram [Macrotyloma uniflorum Lam. (Verdc.)] is a short day and day neutral plant, matures in 120–
180 days after planting and has diploid chromosome numbers of 2n = 20, 22, 24 (Cook et al. 2005). It is a
neglected and unexplored pulse crop widely cultivated and consumed food legume in India since ancient
times (Reddy et al. 2008). It is native to the south-east Asian subcontinent and tropical Africa. It is mainly
grown in India, Africa, Australia, Burma, Malaysia, Mauritius, and the West Indies under low soil fertility
status with few inputs (Witcombe et al. 2008). It is adapted to wide range of temperature regimes (Smartt
1985) where other crops invariably fail to survive.
It has been used as a food item for millennia. Archaeological investigations revealed that horse gram used
as food around 2000 BC (Mehra 2000). The US National Academy of Sciences has identified this legume as
a potential food source for the future, thanks to its exceptional nutrition profile, drought-resistance and
general hardiness. It is noticed as a good source of protein, carbohydrates, energy (Bravo et al. 1998). It
had also observed that it is tolerant to drought (Bhardwaj and Yadav 2012), salinity (Reddy et al. 1998) and
heavy metal stresses (Reddy et al. 2005). In India, it is generally sown late in the rainy season by resource-
poor farmers in marginal and drought-prone condition. However, sowing of seeds on the first fortnight of
August and September recorded higher grain and straw yields than those sown on the first fortnight of
October (Naik 2001).

Horse gram is widely grown for not only human food as a pulse, fodder crop for livestock but also green
manure and medicinal crop. In rural areas, seeds of horse gram are consumed after parched followed by
boiling or frying (Purse glove 1974) along with cooked rice, sorghum or pearl millet. Sprouted seeds, having
high nutritional quality, are widely consumed by the indigenous tribal peoples (Bravo et al. 1999). Even
Dept. of Physical Education, J. E. S. College, Jalna 275 http://jesjalna.org/Dept_Sports/dep_Sports_Download.html (online)
Impact Factor : 0.641 (ISRA) ISSN No.: 2279-0306
International Journal of Physical Education, Health & Sports Sciences (IJPEHSS) A Journal of Physical Education Foundation of India
th
National Conference on Interdisciplinary Approaches in Education, Physical Education, Sports & Yoga; 7 March. 2020
now, in addition to its nutritive value, the consumption of sprouted seed become increasingly popular due
to the excellent source to reduce the risk of various diseases and exerting health promoting effects (Paśko
et al. 2009). In Indian traditional medicine, seeds of horse gram are used for treatment of urinary stones
(Yadava and Vyas 1994; Ravishankar and Vishnu 2012), urinary diseases and piles (Yadava and Vyas 1994),
regulate the abnormal menstrual cycle in women (Neelam 2007), act as astringent, tonic (Brink 2006), and
also used to treat calculus afflictions, corpulence, hiccups, and worms (Chunekar and Pandey 1998).
Furthermore, the cooked liquor of the horse gram seeds with spices is considered to be a potential remedy
for the common cold, throat infection, fever and the soup said to generate heat (Perumal and Sellamuthu
2007).

Horse gram is the most protein-rich lentil found on the planet. It is very high-powered. That’s why race
horses are fed with this gram, which is called horse gram in the market. This important and under-utilized
tropical crop is grown mostly in dry agricultural lands and keeps a rather low profile nowadays, but is ready
to expand its reputation! Here’s why.

Medicinal value:
Owing to their d medicinal value, there is an increased demand to explore an underutilized legume
(Arinathan et al. 2003) to alleviate malnutrition and reduce risk of various diseases in developing countries.
Horse gram is an excellent source of protein (17.9– 25.3 %), carbohydrates (51.9–60.9 %), essential amino
acids, energy, low content of lipid (0.58–2.06 %), iron, molybdenum, phosphorus, iron and vitamins such as
carotene, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and vitamin C (Bravo et al. 1999, Sodani et al. 2004). The details of
major nutrient available in horse gram are presented in Table 1.

Horse gram has high non-digestible carbohydrate content which cause lower glucose release into the blood
stream with potential beneficial effects in the dietary management of diabetes and this resistant starch is
regarded as a Prebiotic among the new generation of dietary fiber. Horse gram protein comprises higher
lysine content than pigeon pea and chickpea making it a good complement to a cereal based diet. The high
content of dietary fiber in horse gram flours might be helpful in terms of maintaining positive effects on
intestine and colon physiology, besides other homoeostatic and therapeutic functions in human nutrition
(Patnagre et.al.2019).

Nutraceutical Foods:
In simple terms, nutraceuticals are those foods or parts of foods that provide health and/or medical
benefits including prevention, protection and treatment of a disease. In view, of its medicinal synergy,
economical status and no side effects, the nutraceutical, functional or health foods have gained a wide
interest during the last few decades. The health promoting effects of phytochemicals and nutraceuticals
and/or functional foods are likely due to a complex mix of biochemical and cellular interactions which
together promote overall health of the individual. The clinical success of nutraceutical products coupled
with increasing health consciousness results in rapid global growth of the nutraceuticals and functional
food industry. The major chemical compounds recognized as potential health promoting benefits are the
phenolics, flavonoids, alkaloids, carotenoids, prebiotics, phytosterols, tannins, fatty acids, terpenoids,
saponins, and soluble and insoluble dietary fibers.
Cure Diseases:
As per Charak Samhita and in the Sushruta Samhita it is mentioned that the seed powder the seed of horse
gram are use as traditional medicine for curing the piles, hiccup, abdominal lump, bronchial asthma, in
causing and regulating perspiration is useful in stopping excessive perspiration. Traditional texts describe
its use as medicine for curing kidney stones, asthma, bronchitis, leukoderma, urinary discharges, heart
diseases and piles. It also has anthelmintic activity which can be used as dietary food for infants to
eradicate worms. It supposed to have unique property of dissolving kidney stones, therefore, in many parts
of the country it is given to prevent or cure urinary stones. In seed extract of horse gram water soluble,

Dept. of Physical Education, J. E. S. College, Jalna 276 http://jesjalna.org/Dept_Sports/dep_Sports_Download.html (online)

Impact Factor : 0.641 (ISRA) ISSN No.: 2279-0306
International Journal of Physical Education, Health & Sports Sciences (IJPEHSS) A Journal of Physical Education Foundation of India
th
National Conference on Interdisciplinary Approaches in Education, Physical Education, Sports & Yoga; 7 March. 2020
heat stable, polar, non-tannin and non-protein crystallization inhibitors are reported and a marked
decrease in anti-calcifying activity observed with the post-harvest storage of seeds.

In Indian traditional medicine, seeds of horse gram are used for treatment of urinary stones (Ravishankar
and Vishnupriya 2012), urinary diseases and piles (Yadava and Vyas 1994), regulate the abnormal
menstrual cycle in women (Neelam 2007), act as astringent, tonic and also used to treat calculus afflictions,
corpulence, hiccups, and worms (Chunekar and Pandey 1998). Furthermore, the cooked liquor of the horse
gram seeds with spices is considered to be a potential remedy for the common cold, throat infection, fever
and the soup said to generate heat (Perumal and Sellamuthu 2007, Prasad and Singh, 2015).

Table 1. Major nutrients in different milled fractions of Horse gram (% of Dry matter)
Constituents Cotyledons Seed coats
Moisture 5.8±0.3l 3.9±0.5
Proteins 22.6±1.23 9.1±0.3
Fat 1.8±0.3 0.6±0.02
Ash 2.9±0.02 3.8±0.5
Crude fiber 1.6±0.2 21.8±1.6
Total Carbohydrate 66.9±2.6 82.6±1.1
Soluble sugar 6.4±0.15 0.96±0.06
Reducing Sugar 538.3±16.2 108.6±5.1
Non Reducing Sugar 5.86±1.15 0.85±0.03
Dietary fiber 16.7±0.27 36.4±0.9
Soluble 1.32±0.4 3.9±0.5
Insoluble 15.38±0.16 32.5±1.1

Table 2 Soluble sugar and starch fraction of raw horse Table 3 composition of dietary fiber fraction of raw
gram (g/100 g dry matter) horse gram (g/100 g dry matter)
Soluble sugar and starch g/100 g dry matter dietary fiber fraction Total dietary fiber (TDF)
fraction
Oligosaccharides 3.69±0.24 Fructose 4.30±0.05
Sucrose 1.21±0.12 Arabinose 1.93±0.10
Maltose 0.53±0.06 Xylose 0.33±0.06
Glucose 0.0±0.0 Mannose 0.52±0.04
Xylose 0.64±0.2 Galactose 7.57±0.52
Galactose 0.08±0.01 Total Neutral sugar 14.65±0.73
Arabinose 0.12±0.03 Uronic Acid 2.20±0.08
Fructose 0.03±0.01 Klason Lignin 5.61±0.39
Inositol 0.04±0.0 Total dietary fiber 22.47±0.07
Total soluble sugar 6.38
Total Starch 36.0±1.17
Chemical Composition of Horse Gram seeds:
Table 4: Chemical composition of horse gram Table 5: Mineral content in horse gram
Chemical Parameters Mean Value* Minerals Average value (mg/100g)
Moisture (%) 8.05±0.6 Calcium 239
Total Fat (%) 0.45±0.02 Phosphorus 321
Total carbohydrates 58.2±0.16 Sodium 11.5
Total Protein (%) 21.87±1.07 Magnesium 156
Ash 3.91±0.10 Potassium 762
Dept. of Physical Education, J. E. S. College, Jalna 277 http://jesjalna.org/Dept_Sports/dep_Sports_Download.html (online)
Impact Factor : 0.641 (ISRA) ISSN No.: 2279-0306
International Journal of Physical Education, Health & Sports Sciences (IJPEHSS) A Journal of Physical Education Foundation of India
th
National Conference on Interdisciplinary Approaches in Education, Physical Education, Sports & Yoga; 7 March. 2020
Crude Fiber 4.5±0.04 Iron 7.54
Zinc 1.966
Copper 0.828
The data in the above table no. 4 showed that the moisture content 8.05 per cent, fat 0.45 per cent
carbohydrate 58.2 per cent, protein 21.87, ash 3.91 and crude fiber 4.5 respectively. Similar results were
obtained by (Shivanna and Venkateswaran, 2016), (Bhartiya et al., 2015) and (Marimuthu and
Krishnamoorthi, 2013).
Mineral composition of horse gram
The results given with respect to various minerals such as Ca, P, Na, K, Mg, Fe, Zn and Cu were determined
and accordingly results presented in Table 5.
The table 5 showed that the potassium content of horse gram was found to be highest 762 mg than the
rest of other minerals, phosphorus 321 and calcium content 239 mg/100g and sodium 11.5mg/100g. The
study showed that horse gram was good sources of potassium, phosphorous and calcium. However,
differences in their mineral availability for absorption were observed and may be due to its mineral content
and/or mineral-mineral interaction (Shivanna and Venkateswaran, 2016) and (Bhartiya et al., 2015).

Conclusion
The nutritional value of horse gram is comparable with other pulse crop. Horse gram has high levels of
antioxidant and radical scavenging activities in addition to their traditional role of providing proteins and
carbohydrates. It has rich source of various natural bioactive substances such as Phytic acid, fiber, phenolic
acid etc. After critical assessment of nutritional and therapeutic aspect of horse gram, it can now be
concluded that-it is a rich source of nutrient and antinutrient content. These bioactive substances have
immense potential for curing varieties of diseases such as common cold, throat infection, fever, urinary
stones, asthma, bronchitis, leucoderma, etc. The proteinase inhibitors have been identified to treat anti-
inflammatory, obesity and several degenerative and autoimmune diseases. The health benefits of horse
gram are being recognized in the western world recently, but have been known for its ability to prevent
and cure various diseases by Indian Ayurvedic system since centuries. However, there is a dearth of
information on the specific health beneficial components in this lesser known legume. Thus, considering its
immense potential as health benefit it needs to exploit as a source of nutraceutical and food industries.

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Impact Factor : 0.641 (ISRA) ISSN No.: 2279-0306
International Journal of Physical Education, Health & Sports Sciences (IJPEHSS) A Journal of Physical Education Foundation of India
th
National Conference on Interdisciplinary Approaches in Education, Physical Education, Sports & Yoga; 7 March. 2020
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