Abstract
Malnutrition has affected almost 31% of pre-school children. This paper provides the information of nutritional values (leaf protein, 15 amino acids, biomass and leaf dry matter) of grain, vegetable and weedy types of amaranths (n = 76 accessions); particularly those novel materials originated from the highland areas of Sumatra-Takengon. The highest values of leaf protein and total amino acids were found in many weedy species (A. viridis, A. blitum L. and A. dubius). The ranges of leaf protein and total amino acids in most of weedy types were 12–29 g 100 g−1 DM and 84–93 g 100 g−1 DW protein, respectively. The leaves of amaranths were found to be a good source for lysine which is the limiting essential amino acids in most of cereal plants. Their values were in the range of 6 g 100 g−1 DW protein which are close to that of good protein quality according to FAO/WHO’s standard. The leaves of underutilized weedy species of A. dubius, A. blitum, A. viridis and the dual purpose types of A. caudatus L., A. cruentus L. deserve to be further exploited as a low cost solution for solving malnutrition problems, especially in Indonesia.
Highlights
Malnutrition or the so-called hidden hunger has affected almost 31% of all children under the age of five years and become a major public health problem in many developing nations [1]
The nutritional values of the grain, vegetables and weedy types are presented in an integrated study
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to each of the accessions and differences among traits (P < 0.05) were determined by t-test means comparison by using JMP version 7.0 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA). It is concluded from the present study that the three types of amaranths show a wide array of highly nutritional characteristics, the edible weedy species such as A. dubius, A. blitum and A. viridis
Summary
Malnutrition or the so-called hidden hunger has affected almost 31% of all children under the age of five years and become a major public health problem in many developing nations [1]. 2000 m a.s.l) those uncultivated members of A. dubius have been extensively studied and discovered as potential parental lines for high leaf number and protein content improvement [19] Information regarding their nutritional values is important for any breeding attempts aiming for the alleviation of malnutrition, in Indonesia. The variation in protein content, 15 essential amino acids, biomass and leaf dry matter exhibited by the leaves of grain, vegetable and the weedy types of amaranths, including those recently discovered materials originating from Takengon, were assessed. This information will serve further attempts at breeding the vegetable amaranths
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