Pigeonpea Nutrition and Its Improvement

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Abstract
Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan [L.] Millsp.), known by several\ud vernacular and names such as red gram, tuar, Angola\ud pea. yellow dhal and oil dhal, is one of the major grain legume crops of\ud the tropics and sub-tropics. It is a crop of small holder dryland\ud fmmers because it can grow well under subsistence level of agriculture\ud and provides nutritive food, fodder, and fuel wood. It also improves soil\ud by fixing atmospheric nitrogen. India by far is the largest pigeonpea producer\ud it is consumed as decorticated split peas, popularly called as\ud 'dhaL' In other countries, its consumption as whole dty and green\ud vegetable is popular. Its foliage is used as fodder and milling by-products\ud [onn an excellent feed for domestic animals. Pigeonpea seeds contain\ud about 20-22% protein and appreciable amounts of essential amino.acids\ud and minerals. DehuHing and boiling treatments of seeds get rid of the\ud most antinutritional factors as tannins and enzyme inhibitors. Seed\ud storage causes considerable losses in the quality of this legume. The seed\ud protein of pigeonpea has been successfully enhanced by breeding from\ud 20-22% to 28-30%. Such lines also agronomically performed well and\ud have acceptable and color. The high-protein lines were found nutritionally superior to the cultivars because they would provide more\ud quantities of utilizable protein and sulfur-containing amino acids

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