Ludhiana, December 4, 2023 (Yes Punjab News)
Ms Priya Rani, a Ph.D student from the Department of Food and Nutrition, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), has been conferred with the “Best Oral Presentation Award” at the 55th Annual Conference of the Nutrition Society of India (NSI), organized by the NSI at the ICMR- National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad.
She was awarded for the paper entitled “Nutrient Analysis of Germinated Quinoa Varieties: A path towards Superior, Nutrient Dense, Gluten free products,” jointly authored by Priya Rani, Sonika Sharma, Kiran Grover, Navjot Kaur and Ranjeet Gill. The conference was themed as ‘Nutricereals for One Health.’
Dr Kiran Grover, Professor and Head, Department of Food and Nutrition, explained that research was a joint work of the Department of Food and Nutrition, and Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics. Ten quinoa genotypes were analysed for nutritional and anti-nutritional factors, she told.
Giving details, Dr Sonika Sharma, Major Advisor and Professor of Food and Nutrition, explained: “Quinoa is gluten-free and packed with nutrients like protein, fiber, zinc, calcium and iron, as well as antioxidants.” Quinoa genotypes were found to be very good source of Lysine, Methionine, Tryptophan, Oleic and Linoleic acid. Saponins, a major anti-nutritional factor responsible for bitterness in quinoa, were reduced during germination, she added.
The best quinoa genotype was selected on the basis of Nutrient Quality Score (NQS 11.1); it was calculated based on 11 desirable nutrients and one anti-nutritional factor, she said. This study helped in selection of superior genotype of quinoa for the development of various highly nutritious gluten free products with improved physicochemical and functional properties, she observed.
Dr Satbir Singh Gosal, Vice-Chancellor, PAU; Dr Kiran Bains, Dean, College of Community Science and Dr Kiran Grover, Head, Department of Food and Nutrition, congratulated the team for the collaborative effort.
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