**2.29 Phytate**

The results shown in Table- 6 revealed that all the mutants except dwarf and compact showed decrease in phytate content. Phytic acid decides the nutritional quality of cereals and seeds of legume as it is a strong antinutritional factor. It is also implicated in the "hardto-cook" phenomenon of legumes (Stanley, 1985). Hence development of new cultivars with low phytate is the prime need of time. In present study tall, high yielding, early, late and long pod mutants showed reduced phytic acid contents (Table- 6). All such mutants can be exploited in future hybridization programme of horsegram aimed for improving nutrient quality.


Data are means of three replicates ± standard deviation. Significant difference due to treatments was assessed by Fisher's LSD as a post-hoc test.

Table 6. Nutrient quality in seeds of M3 mutants of horsegram cv. Dapoli Kulthi 1
