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Variations in Mimosine Content Among Leucaena Species and Related Mimosaceae 1
Author(s) -
Brewbaker James L.,
Hylin John W.
Publication year - 1965
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci1965.0011183x000500040019x
Subject(s) - mimosine , leucaena , citation , crop , biology , leucaena leucocephala , agriculture , library science , horticulture , botany , agronomy , computer science , ecology
STRAINS of the genus Leucaena. (Mimosaceae) serve as high protein forage and shade plants throughout the tropics. A major limitation to their cultivation is provided by the alkaloid, mimosine, which causes several toxic symptoms in animals, including loss of hair in nonruminants and reduced egg production in poultry. A world collection of Leucaena strains has been assembled in Hawaii to facilitate biochemical and breeding studies aimed at the production of low mimosine or mimosineless forms. This report summarizes the results of mimosine analyses of these strains and of related mimosaceous genera. Leucaena is a genus of subtropical and tropical woody legumes allied closely to the genus Mimosa. Central American in origin, it consists of perhaps a dozen valid species. The most widespread and important of these is L. leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit, fo rmer ly known (2) as "L. glauca", widely recognized by forage breeders as a potential "alfalfa of the tropics" (3). It is used also as a windbreak and shade plant for crops like coffee and cacao. Aggressive on soils that are not too acid, it may attain heights of 40 ft. and is dominant in the vegetation of many drier parts of the tropics. Mimosine, ft[N( 3-hydroxy-4-pyridone) ] a-aminopropionic acid, has been extracted from L. leucocephala, and was first reported from Mimosa spp. (8). The pyridone portion of the molecule has been shown to be derived biosynthetically from the amino acid, lysine (5, 6). Mimosine causes severe depilation in animals, the short tails of tropical horses usually tracing to this cause. Depilation is less evident in ruminants, due to bacterial degradation. Specific rumen bacteria have been isolated which can utilize mimosine as their sole source of carbon (6). The cultivation of Leucaena s t ra ins has been cur ta i led largely because of mimosine's deleterious effects.