08 Jan Safe harvesting stage of wheat to maintain nutritional quality
पोषक तत्वों की गुणवत्ता बनाए रखने के लिए गेहूं कटाई की उपयुक्त अवस्था The nutritional value of wheat is extremely important as it is the second most important staple food crop of India. The importance of wheat is mainly due to the fact that its grain can be ground into flour, semolina, etc., which form the basic ingredients of bread and other bakery products, as well as pastas, and thus it presents the main source of nutrients to the most of the world population. These end products of wheat are mainly dependent up on the nutritional quality of the wheat grains. The wheat grain (Fig. 1) contains 2-3% germ, 13-17% bran and 80-85% mealy endosperm. The wheat bran, is mainly rich in fiber (53%), vitamin B complex and minerals which are lost from the starchy endosperm during the first stage of milling. The endosperm mainly contains energy-yielding starch. The germ lies at one end of the grain which is rich in proteins (25%) and lipids (8-13%). The detailed nutritional profile of wheat is given in the table 1. Wheat is grown every where in India. It is of prime importance to preserve the nutritional quality of wheat grain by selecting proper stage of harvesting wheat. Fig 1:The structure and nutritional composition of wheat grain Nutrient Availability Carbohydrate 1. Total carbohydrate 72.5 g 2. Dietary...