Nutritional Profile of Amaranth Grain Varieties Grown in Kenya

Abstract

Amaranth is an indigenous plant known for its leafy vegetables and grain. Efforts are increasingly being put forward toward increasing production and utilization of the crop. However there are gaps in knowledge and technology on nutritional diversity of different varieties grown in Kenya. The objective of this study was to finger print the nutritional diversity of grains from four (A. hypochondriacus, A albus, A. cruentus, and A. hybridus) different varieties grown in Kenya. Field evaluation was done by planting the varieties in the University farm. The composition of the grains was determined using recognized standard methods. There was no significant difference (P?0.05) in composition of raw amaranth grain varieties. On average, amaranth grains were found to be rich in proteins 15.8%, lipids 7.5%, carbohydrate 66.0%, ash 3.3% and fiber 6.9%. The profile of amino acids and the specific content did not vary among different varieties. The highest amino acid on average was glutamic acid 7.2 (g/16 g of N) followed by aspartic acid 1.7 (g/16 g of N) and threonine 1.3 (g/16 g of N). Lysine occurred in appreciable amounts. The oil extracted from amaranth grain contained mainly unsaturated fatty acids. The predominant acids in the oil were oleic, linoleic and palmitic. Total unsaturated acids ranged from 76.2% to 77.6% and saturated fatty acids 22.4% to 22.8%. Linolenic acid was present in low concentration. The grains contain a high amount of iron (18.2 mg/100g), manganese (6.1 mg/100g) and zinc (3.8 mg/100g) among other minerals. The average level of anti-nutrients in grains were; phytate (254mg/100g), tannic acid (164mg/100g) and oxalate (194mg/100g) which are within levels that can be tolerated by the body system. This indicates that amaranth grain could be one of the pathways towards solving the macro - and micronutrient deficiencies experienced in Sub- Sahara Africa.

Keywords: Amaranth grain varieties, Nutritional diversity