Nutritional Screening of Allium tuberosum from Western Himalayan Region of India

Farha Sultana, M. Mohsin

Abstract: The present study is aimed to investigate the percentage composition of various bio-molecules present in Allium tuberosum Rottl. ex. Spreng. using various standard chemical methods. These bio-molecules are very important for fundamental organs of human body for their proper functioning. Collectively, ten nutritional parameters were evaluated including total carbohydrates, simple carbohydrates, polysaccharides, reducing and non- reducing sugars, proteins, ether extract, fibres, chlorophyll content and ash content. The study reveals that A. tuberosum collected from Western Himalayan region of India is having an appreciable amount of nutrients mainly polysaccharides (1.65 0.13 %), protein (2.25 0.14 %), chlorophyll-a (0.32 0.04 %), chlorophyll-b (0.26 0.03 %), and fibres (0.7783 0.09 %) on the fresh weight basis, responsible for its nutritional and medicinal properties besides the potentially active sulphur based components.

Keywords: Allium tuberosum, Chinese chives, Western Himalayas, bio-molecules, nutritional value