Biochemical Evaluation of Some Promising Genotypes of Chenopod (Chenopodium album L.)

The dry mature seeds of twenty eight genotypes of chenopod (Chenopodium album L.) were analysed for biochemical constituents of nutritional significance. Variation in moisture, crude protein, ether extract, ash, crude fibre and carbohydrate content was observed to vary from 7.6 to 11.5, 13.4 to 16.5, 3.8 to 8.1, 3.5 to 5.0, 6.2 to 10.9 and 53.4 to 62.4, respectively. The essential amino acids viz., methionine and tryptophan content ranged from 0.60 to 1.65 and 0.36 to 1.01 g per 100 g protein in chenopod genotypes, respectively. The content of minerals viz., calcium, iron, zinc and phosphorus varied from 225.6 to 324.6, 6.8 to 14.0, 2.2 to 3.0 and 335.3 to 676.4 mg per 100 g, respectively. For individual quality trait the genotype(s) viz., IC-108816 in crude protein; IC-415403 in oil; IC-106340 in ash; IC-447573 in crude fibre; EC-507740 in carbohydrates; IC-108087 in methionine; IC-447573 in tryptophan; IC-107296 in calcium; PRC-9801, IC-107185; IC-274533 in iron; EC-507740, 42 in zinc and IC-341708 in phosphorus emerged promising genotypes. Besides, based on varietal rating on the basis of quality attributes viz., protein, fibre, carbohydrates, methionine, tryptophan and calcium the genotypes IC-274533, IC-108087, EC-507740 and IC-108816 were identified to be overall superior multipurpose genotypes in that order to be useful for further crop improvement.