Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
*Present address: Research Biochemist, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana.
The chemical composition of seven promising varieties of brinjal was studied. There was an appreciable varietal variation in both water-soluble and cell-wall carbohydrates, minerals and ascorbic acid. The variation in the free-reducing sugars and ascorbic acid was from 0.67 to 1.49 per cent and 11.87 to 18.45 mg/100 g, respectively. The true protein content varied from 0.56 to 0.81 per cent. PPC, which gave the lowest yield, contained the maximum concentration of total water-soluble carbohydrates, total minerals, calcium and iron. S1 and S5 gave very high yields but were poor in the various vital food constituents. In an overall comparison amongst the varieties studied, PPL contained the maximum concentration of free-reducing sugars and ascorbic acid, a fairly higher concentration of total water-soluble carbohydrates, iron and a reasonably lower concentration of unavailable carbohydrates.
