EVALUATION OF NUTRITIONAL COMPOSITION OF GRAINS AND LEAF NITRATE REDUCTASE ACTIVITY IN SIXTEEN PIGEONPEA (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.) CULTIVARS
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Date
1997-04-19
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MAHATMA PHULE KRISHI VIDYAPEETH, RAHURI, DIST. AHMEDNAGAR, M. S. (INDIA.)
Abstract
The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the nutritional constitutents of grains of sixteen pigeonpea cultivars and the standardization of jiri vivo nitrate reductase (NR) activity in trifoliate leaves of 20-day-old pigeonpea plants. The j[n situ (actual) NR activity in the cotyledonary and trifoliate leaves of 20-day-old sixteen pigeonpea cultivars was also determined. Further it wasdesired to know the distribution of NR activity in different plant parts such as leaves, stems, petioles, roots and root nodules of one-month- old pigeonpea cultivar, ICPL-87. Thepigeonpea seedlings were grown in soil-filled pots nder green house conditions of the Department of Biochemistry, Mahatma XIV Abstract contd S.M. Gawade Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, during the months of June toAugust, 1996. The crude protein content of the grains of pigeonpea cultivars varied widely from Is.So to 27.70 per cent. The crude fat content also ranged from 1.21 to 2.65 per cent, while the crude fibre content varied from 5.57 to 11.08per cent. The total ash content in the pigeonpeairanged from 2.52 to 6.30 per cent. The variation in carbohydrates contents was from 46.69 to 60.84 per cent. Thus it appears that the pigeonpea is the major source of proteins in the vegetarian diet. The concentrations of substrate (nitrate) (100 mM),n-propanol (1 %, v/v) and Triton-X-100 (0.05 %, v/v) used in the infiltration media, were found to be optimum for maximum in vivo NR activity in pigeonpea trifoliate leaves. The cotyledonary leaves of 20-day-old seedlings had higher NR activity than the trifoliate leaves of the same plant. The highly significant correlation between NR activity in leavesand grain protein content of the sixteen pigeonpea cultivars indicated that the cultivars with higher NR activity could be selected for breeding high protein grain genotypes. Diurnalfluctuations in the NR activity were observed in the pigeonpea leaves. The average NR activity which was low at 8.00 hr in XV Abstract contd S.M. Gawade the morning increased rapidly as the day advanced until it reached a maximum level at 14.00 hr. The NR activity, wever,declined during the afternoon hours, reaching a minimum levelin the evening at 17.00 hr. The highest NR activity was observed in petioles as compared to other plant parts of onemonth-old plants. It thus appears that petioles are the major site of nitrate reduction in pigeonpea, followed by leaf, stem and root in that order. However, NR activity was notdetectable in nodules, which also contribute to the overall process of nitrate assimilation in legumes.
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sowing, intercropping, wheats, tillage equipment, seed drilling, crops, mustard, fertilizers, land resources, chickpeas