Niki Tsoutsoura

PhD Candidate

Email: stxnt7@exmail.nottingham.ac.uk

Niki holds an MSc. in Crop Improvement from the University of Nottingham. During her MSc studies, she became familiar with underutilised crops like winged bean. Underutilised crops are relatively underexploited as they have low economic importance or agricultural significance in developed economies, therefore they receive less attention and limited research is conducted. Winged bean, as a legume, has a high protein content and nutritional value and contributes in nitrogen fixation, soil fertility and structure, making it a promising future crop. Her PhD project investigates the genetic variation of the germplasm in order to improve the plant architecture for mechanical harvesting, while also analysing the protein content to improve the quality of the seed by identifying and eliminating the effect of antinutritional factors. A holistic approach that combines genetic association studies with compositional analyses and processing techniques, would give a better understanding of the undesirable traits that winged bean carries and the potential it to be bred to be a ‘soybean for the tropics’.