Characterization and evaluation of vegetable amaranthus (Amaranthus tricolor L.) for high yield, quality and resistance to Rhizoctonia solani

Amaranthus (Amaranthus tricolor, L.) is the most popular and nutritious leafy vegetable of Kerala. Eighty nine diverse accessions of amaranthus collected from different parts of Kerala were evaluated during Sept-Dee 2004 at College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram. Remarkable variability for yield, quality and resistance to leaf blight was noticed. The plant height recorded at flowering ranged from 13.3 cm for Am 15 to 81.1 cm for Am 83. The length of leaf lamina was maximum for Am 67 (21.1 cm) followed by Am 21 (20.8 cm) and Am 37 (20.8 cm) whereas it was shortest for Am 24 (7.4 cm). The yield ranged from 120 to 1132.5 g/plant. The top yielder was Am 88 followed by Am 7 and Am 86. The lowest yield was recorded in Am 27 (120 g plant(-1)). The top yielders accessions belonged to A. dubius. Leaf blight disease scored on a 0-4 scale revealed that the highest incidence 2.6 was in Am 1. The accessions belonging to A. dubius were free from field incidence of the disease. Am 37 (A. hypochondriacus) was also resistant. All the A. tricolor accessions were susceptible to varying levels. The analysis of quality parameters like P-carotene, vitamin C, protein, oxalate and nitrate also showed variability. Am 5 had the maximum P-carotene content of 4655.5 mu g/100 g while Am 90 had the minimum. Vitamin C was highest in am 58 (151.2 mg/100 g) whereas the protein content was maximum (3.5%) in Am 91.Oxalate was minimum in Am 90 (0.6 %) and maximum in Am 76 (2.1 %). Nitrate content varied from 0.04 % to 1.6 %.