Developing novel pea varieties with improved flavour, aroma, and digestibility

Pea protein is an excellent alternative to animal protein for consumers that are concerned with the environmental, ethical, or health implications of animal agriculture. Unfortunately, many consumers can not make dietary choices that align with their other concerns as pea protein has several undesirable traits impeding consumers from adopting pea protein into their diets. These traits include unpleasant flavours and aromas in pea protein and difficulty with its digestion. However, in the last 10 years a new technology called gene-editing has been developed. This technology allows for precise genetic modifications to be made in peas allowing for the development of novel traits that would be prohibitively time intensive using conventional breeding. In this project we will utilise gene-editing to create pea varieties that have better flavor, aroma, and digestibility to reduce the friction preventing consumers from adopting pea protein into their diets.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dae-Kyun Ro

Student:

Partner:

AgGene

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Calgary

Program: