Quantification and analyses of mineral elements present in single line transgenic and non-transgenic Pod Borer Resistant Cowpea from Africa using ICP - OES

Abstract Despite the successful commercialization of the genetically transformed cowpea, commonly referred to as Pod Borer Resistant (PBR) Cowpea in 2019, concerns regarding it tendency to have unintended effects has continued to emanate among stakeholders. The objective of this research was to evaluate the elemental composition of the transgenic PBR Cowpea in view of comprehending any potential changes in nutrient profiles, anti-nutrients, and harmful elements using Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) technique to analyse and compare the elemental distribution in the seeds from transgenic pod borer resistant cowpea line IT97KT and its first generation isoline IT97KN. The concentrations of 28 mineral elements including P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, B, Ni, Li, Sr, V, Ag, Ba, Ce, Sn, Ti, Tl, Si, Co, Na, Se, Cd, Cr, Pb, Be and As were determined across the two cowpea samples, IT97KT and IT97KN, alongside a reference standard of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The analysis of macro mineral elements in both IT97KT transgenic and IT97KN non-transgenic cowpea reveals the following order of increasing or decreasing mean concentration: K (11822, 13119) > P (3897, 2425) > Mg (1585, 1635) > Ca (1136, 1202) for the respective IT97KT and IT97KN samples, indicating a consistent pattern across both samples. The mean concentration value for trace elements: Fe, Mn, Zn, B and Sr were 43.90, 19.50, 32.2, 11.20 for IT97KT and 50.60, 16.30, 32.80, 6.62 and 8.16 respectively for IT97KN. The value for the other trace elements were below the limit of quantification for one or both cowpea samples. Of all the non-essential elements, only the concentration value of Ba could be determined at 6.91 for IT97KT and 6.25 for IT97KN. The value for the other non-essential elements were below the limit of quantification for one or both cowpea samples. The mean concentration for all the beneficial and toxic elements is below the limit of quantification across both cowpea samples. Though there was a slight variation between the mean element concentration of the two cowpea samples, none of the quantifiable elements was above the range of values reported in literature, and for the elements that were below the limit of quantification (LOQ), the LOQ was also below the literature range in most cases. This study concludes that the transformation of the IT97KN into line IT97KT, now commercially referred to as Pod Borer Resistant Cowpea, does not lead to any unusual or undesirable alterations in the crop’s elemental composition.