3. Results and discussion
The free amino acids composition of the seeds from 32 Vicia species is shown in Table 1. In section Cassubicae, V. cassubica has 0.46% free amino acids, of which 28.9% is canavanine. V. orobus has 0.97% free amino acids of which 66.1% is canavanine. V. ervilia (sect. Ervilia) has 0.33% free amino acids representing canavanine 0.03% dry flour. V. articulata (sect. Ervoides) has 0.69% free amino acids, representing canavanine 17.37% of these. In section Ervum total free amino acids ranged from 0.61% to 1.09% dry flour. Canavanine contents varied considerably within this section, ranging from 3.22% to 50.48% of free amino acids. In section Panduratae, analysis of seeds from V. cretica revealed 2.86% free amino acids and canavanine represents 83.42% of total free amino acids. In V. onobrichioides (sect. Pedunculatae) canavanine was found at only 0.01% dry flour. In section Vicilla content in total free amino acids ranged from 0.7% dry flour in V. dumetorum and V. pisiformis, to 1.58% in V. sylvatica. By last, section Cracca includes species with the highest contents in canavanine, going from 0.09% to 3.27% dry flour. This represents relative canavanine concentrations from 20.5% in V. sicula up to 86.9% of free amino acids in V. incana. The content in total free amino acids ranged from 0.44% dry flour in V. sicula to 3.94% in V. incana.
