Nutrient composition of pearl millet varieties of Rajasthan

Evaluation of nine high yielding pearl millet hybrids or composites along with a local variety of Nagaur district, for proximate principles, namely, crude protein, crude fat, ash, crude fibre, carbohydrates and energy contents, and minerals, namely, calcium and iron contents, revealed that the varieties differed significantly with respect to all the characters. Though none of the high yielding varieties exceeded the local in all the components, the varieties namely ICTP-8203, MP-179, RHB-30, MP-171, WC-C75 and HHB-67 were superior than the local check with respect to proximate principles. Among the varieties, MP-171, MP-254, WC-C75, ICTP-820, and MH-179 were also superior in mineral contents. Excepting fat with carbohydrate content and ash with calcium content, rest of the characters were either positively correlated or the correlation coefficient was nonsignificant, suggesting a possibility of their simultaneous improvement. Since a wide variability for quality traits has been reported to exist in germplasm, there is scope for development of varieties with better nutritional quality.