CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF LOCAL AND IMPROVED FINGER MILLET [ELEUSINE COROCANA (L.) GAETRTIN] VARIETIES GROWN IN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Millet is stable food crop in the West, East and Great Lakes Regions of Africa. Finger millet (Eleusine corocana) is indigenous to Ethiopia and has good drought tolerance. The chemical composition of different finger millet varieties plays an important role in identifying those with high nutritional value. However, the chemical composition of the crop is not investigated in Ethiopia. Thus, this study evaluates the chemical composition of different varieties of finger millets grown in Ethiopia.

METHODS: The finger millet research materials were collected from Arsi Negele, Bako and Pawe research centers, and the study was conducted at Melkassa Agricultural Research Center in 2007. Comprehensive analyses of minerals such as Calcium, Iron, Zinc, Copper, Chromium, Magnesium and Manganese were determined using the atomic absorption spectrophotometer method. Proximate chemical composition analysis of the seed flour including moisture, total ash and crude protein were performed according Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) methods.

RESULTS: Nine millet varieties with 3-kg portions of each finger millet seeds were collected and used for this study. Mean values for protein content and mineral composition of finger millet varieties were ranged from 6.26 g/100 g to 10.5 g/100g; calcium 50.66 mg/100g to 319 mg/ 100g; iron 4.59 mg /100g to 53.39 mg/100g; zinc 0.97mg/100g to 2.56 mg/100g; magnesium 78 mg/100g to 201mg/100g; manganese 17.61 mg/100g to 48.43 mg/100g; phosphorus 3.46 mg/100g to 147mg/100g; chromium 0.12 mg/100g to 3.47 mg/100g and copper 0.18 mg/100g to 0.79 mg /100g. The protein content for improved Boneya and local PBL-1 varieties were 10.50 g 100 g -1 and 6.26 g 100 g -1 on dry basis, respectively. The proximate composition data analyses of improved and local finger millet varieties were also show significance variations within the varieties.

CONCLUSION: This study reveled that finger millet are enriched with diverse macro and micronutrients even though there were significant differences among varieties in their composition. It was evident that from the composition analyses, the improved varieties from agricultural research centers were not superior in their composition except for protein content than the local ones. Further research into phytochemical composition, antioxidant activity of millet polyphenols, amino acid profile, digestibility and functional properties of these varieties need further investigation to select the best varieties with acceptable level of processing quality in order to develop alternative added-value food products.