Vol. 8, Issue 10, Part Q (2024)

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) has a high scope for utilization as a nutritional food and nutraceutical. It is nutritionally comparable and superior to many other cereals. It requires processing before consumption to enhance the shelf life and increase the nutritional quality. Therefore, the present investigation has focused on the effect of traditional processing (soaking and germination) on the proximate composition of biofortified pearl millet varieties. Moisture, protein, fat, fiber, ash and carbohydrate ranged from 6.59-10.10, 4.49-10.05, 3.93-6.17, 1.02-2.37, 1.13-1.93 and 62.01-76.82 g/100 g respectively. Biofortified variety RHB 234 has high fat and fiber content whereas AHB 1200 have high ash and carbohydrate content even after processing. Control non-biofortified variety Pittaganti has high protein content. All the varieties have shown significant (p<0.05) variation for all the proximates except for carbohydrates (p>0.05). There is a significant (p<0.05) decrease in all the proximates during soaking and germination.