Biochemical Composition of Grain Amaranth Genotypes of Himachal Pradesh

Thirteen genotypes of amaranth procured from NBPGR Research Station, Shimla during the year 2009 were evaluated for various physical and biochemical constituents of dietary significance by following standard procedures. Significant variation in biochemical constituents viz. moisture (8.76 - 9.98%), crude protein (9.65 - 12.69%), oil (3.24 - 6.06%), ash (2.02 - 2.91%), crude fibre (2.85 - 4.77%), carbohydrate (64.40 - 71.92%), total sugars (3.08–3.29%), methionine (1.26 - 1.94% protein), tryptophan (0.75 - 1.03% protein), in vitro protein digestibility (66.09 - 76.74%), total phenols (123 - 153 mg/100g), oxalate (85–129 mg/100g), calcium (147 - 201 mg/100g), phosphorus (449 - 526 mg/100g), iron (4.60 -6.55 mg/100g) and zinc (3.08 - 4.72 mg/100g) among various amaranth genotypes was observed. Cumulative genotypic ranking done for desirable quality traits taken together indicated genotype(s) IC-423117, IC-422845 and IC-422652 as versatile genotypes in order of excellence.