*4.1. Iron*

In several studies, a wide range of variation in Fe concentration has been observed in peas, chickpeas, common beans, mungbeans, and lentils (Table 1). Significant genetic variability in Fe concentration was observed in the core collection of common beans [169,170], common bean populations [171–173], and a large collection of lentil accessions [174,175]. Cultivars of lentils (18), peas (17), common beans (10), and chickpeas (8) grown at several locations in Southern Saskatchewan (2005–2006) had Fe concentration of 75.6–100 mg kg−1, 47.7–58.1 mg kg−1, 57.7–80.7 mg kg−1, and 48.6–55.6 mg kg−1, respectively [11]. A 100 g serving of any of these pulse crops provided over 50% of the RDA for Fe. A substantial variation in concentration of Fe was observed in 94 diverse accessions each of chickpeas [12] and peas [13]. Further, Diapari et al. [12] identified several chickpea accessions with high Fe concentration (52–60 mg kg−1) that could be utilized for the development of cultivars with high Fe concentration. Significant variation was observed in Fe concentration (35–87 mg kg−1) in mungbean lines commonly grown in South Asia [176]. In a recent study, Dissanayaka [29] reported significant variation in a pea genome wide association study (GWAS) panel of 177 accessions evaluated at Saskatoon and Rosthern Saskatchewan, Canada, and Fargo, North Dakota, USA.

The environment significantly a ffected the concentration of minerals in field peas, chickpeas, common beans, and lentils grown at di fferent locations in Saskatchewan, Canada [11]. Diapari et al. [13] and Dissanayaka [29] reported a significant e ffect of genotypes, year, and location with higher Fe concentration at Rosthern compared with Saskatoon in peas.

Effect of genotypes was also significant in lentils [25,28] and chickpea [12,28]. Along with environment, Fe concentration was also a ffected by varieties and locations. For example, Ariza-Nieto et al. [177] in common beans and DellaValle et al. [178] in lentils observed di fferences in Fe concentration at the same location due to varieties, whereas Moraghan et al. [179] reported higher Fe concentration in seeds harvested from acid soil compared to calcareous soil. Diapari et al. [13] reported that the genetic factor was responsible for substantial variation in Fe concentration in pea seeds grown at di fferent locations in Saskatchewan.


**Table 1.** Genetic variation and identified genomic regions and/or markers for the seed concentration of variousmicronutrientsinpulsecrops.


**Table 1.** *Cont.*

Several SNP markers associated with Fe concentration were identified in peas [13,26,27,29], chickpeas [12,23], and lentils [24,25] that can be used in marker-assisted selection (Table 1). In peas, Diapari et al. [13] reported an association of nine SNPs with Fe concentration in 94 diverse accessions, whereas Dissanayaka [29] reported significant association of three SNP markers with Fe concentration in a pea GWAS panel of 177 accessions. Ma et al. [26] identified five QTLs for Fe concentration in a pea population developed from "Aragorn" (PI 648006) and "Kiflica" (PI 357292). Similarly, Gali et al. [27] observed several QTLs for seed iron concentration on four LGs of pea population PR-02 (Orb X CDC Striker) and six LGs of PR-07 (Carerra X CDC Striker).

In chickpeas, Diapari et al. [12] identified two SNPs on Chromosome (chr) 4 and one each on chr1 and chr6 in 94 diverse accessions, whereas Upadhyaya et al. [23] observed associations of six QTLs for Fe concentration on Chromosomes 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7 in a population developed from a cross between ICC 4958 and ICC 8261. In lentils, Aldemir et al. [24] identified 21 QTLs for Fe concentration on several linkage groups (three each on LG1, LGII, and LGVII, six QTLs on LGIV, four QTLs on LGV, and two QTLs on LGVI), whereas Khazaei et al. [25] reported nine QTLs in a panel of 138 accessions, and two of them were tightly linked to Fe concentration in Chromosomes 5 and 6. Similarly, several QTLs were identified for Fe concentration in common bean populations, DOR364 X G19833 [171], G14519 X G4825 [172], and G21242 X G21078 [173].
