Sarmah, RunimaHazarika, Ilakshi2020-02-262020-02-262018-07http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810143593Taro (Colocasiaesculenta L.), a member of Araceae family, is widely cultivated for its edible corms to be used as a subsistence food by millions of people in developing countries. Wide variability exists in taro genotypes grown in the North Eastern region. Taro has many nutritional, economic and health attributes, it has also some anti-nutritional components that are harmful to health. Because of the presence of these inherent factors of anti-nutritional components, demand of taro is less where consumers satisfaction is concerned. The present investigation was intended to study the nutritional nutritional as well as antinutritional contents and antioxidant activities of Colocasiaesculenta L. germplasm collected from Horticulture Farm under AICRP Scheme (Horticulture), Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat-13. The powdered sample of ten (10) different germplasm of this species were analyzed for moisture, starch, sugar, crude protein, total fat, ash, minerals, total dietary fibre, amylose, phenol contents, and antioxidant activities, phytate content and oxalate content. The observed data showed significant variation among the ten germplasm in respect of the nutritional and anti-nutritional parameters. The moisture content varied from 43.23 to 57.90 g/100g on fresh weight basis. On dry weight basis, the starch, reducing sugar, total soluble sugar, crude protein, crude fat, crude fibre and ash contents ranged from 49.5 to 77.4 g/100g; 2.6 to 4.1 g/100g; 4.3 to 5.75 g/100g; 7.5 to 11.8 g/100g; 0.80 to 1.17 g/100g; 1.49 to 2.77 g/100g; 2.4 to 3.4 g/100g, respectively. Among the minerals, the content of phosphorous, iron, calcium and potassium ranged from 22.94 to 33.63 mg/100g; 7.59 to 11.32 mg/100g; 39.63 to 63.15 mg/100g; and 89.91 to 117.9 mg/100g, respectively. Amylose content was found in the range of 9.2 to 17.6 g/100g.The values of total phenol and antioxidant activity (% inhibition of DPPH) ranged from 41.67 to 57.26 mg/100g and 67.69 to 78.71 % respectively. Among the anti-nutrients the content of oxalate and the phytic acid ranged from 0.107 to 0.170 g/100g and 67.54 to 75.53 mg/100g.The possible reason for variation in nutrient, anti-nutrient and antioxidant contents among the ten germplasm of Assam might be due to the variation in their genetic make up. Among the ten germplasm of colocasia, considering carbohydrate, protein and mineral (phosphorous, iron and potassium) contents, the germplasmʻBorKochuʼ was found to be the prominent one. However, from the view point of oxalate and phytic acid content, ‘BorKochu’ and ‘Naga Black’ came up to be the safest germplasm among the ten .ennullThesis