Biochemical Profiling of Potential Genotypes of North West Himalayan Cereals Pulses and Oilseeds

Abstract

The mature seeds of four potentially superior genotypes/varieties each of the nine selected crops viz. barley, oats, wheat (cereals); linseed, sesame, soybean (oilseeds) and kidney bean, horsegram, moth bean (pulses) were evaluated for relevant biochemical constituents by following standard procedures. Significant statistical differences were observed for the biochemical constituents in the four genotypes each of all crops and the three crops of each group. Differences among the three groups were also apparent. The results from this study were utilized for carrying out the cumulative grading based on desirable quality parameters for identifying the best genotype in each crop i.e. Dolma/ VLB-118 in barley, TP-40 in oats, Saptdhara in wheat, Himani in linseed, Nurpur in sesame, Hara Soya in soybean, Mandi in horsegram, Kanchan in kidney bean and Jadia in moth bean. Highest protein content was observed in soybean (36.10%), followed by kidney bean (26.18 %), moth bean (21.51%) and the lowest was seen in barley (10.20%). However the protein digestibility of oats (75.87%) was found to be the best followed by wheat (72.77%), kidney bean (72.17%) and lowest was seen in sesame (56.52%). Linseed exhibited the highest fat content (48.86%) followed by sesame (47.96%) and soybean (20.59%) whereas minimum was observed in horsegram (1.76%). Highest carbohydrate content was seen in wheat (71.57%) followed by barley (69.47%), moth bean (60.73%) and the lowest was seen in sesame (14.62%). Potassium and calcium content was high in soybean (963, 392 mg/100g), horsegram (962, 296 mg/100g) and kidney bean (815, 298 mg/100g). For the trace element iron the best source was sesame (12.80 mg/100g) and moth bean (10.84 mg/100g). In the oilseeds UFA content was found to be more than twice the SFA content. Soybean was the richest source of essential and#969;-6 linoleic acid (51.87%) and linseed of and#969;-3 linolenic acid (53.57%). Sesame had the highest content of oleic acid (40.64%) and also a good amount of linoleic acid (44.41%). The lysine content was quite low in cereals (0.51%) in comparison to the pulses (8.95%) whereas an opposite trend was observed for the methionine content in cereals (1.7%) and pulses (0.46%). However a low content of both these amino acids was observed in the oilseeds linseed and sesame while soybean was poor in methionine (0.48%) and high in lysine (8.08%). The potentially superior genotypes/varieties thus identified can be used for further developmental research by the plant breeders and cultivation on a large scale by the farmers of H.P and others. The information regarding the identification of best crop for nutritionally important individual quality parameter will prove highly beneficial for the consumers. newline