Nutritional Evaluation of Popped and Malted Indigenous Foxtail Millet

Millets are nutritionally comparable to rice and wheat in different nutritional aspects and it provides cheap protein, minerals and vitamins to the population of low economic status, where the need for such ingredients is maximum.But their utilization is limited due to the presence of anti-nutrients, poor digestibility and low palatability. Some indigenous varieties of foxtail millets are sporadically produced in different parts of Assam, India. However, its utilization is very limited because of non availability of suitable processing techniques. Therefore, for better utilization of millets, two processing techniques viz.,popping and malting have been standardized using two locally available varieties of foxtail millet (Setaria italica), which are known as "Koni dhan" in Assam, North Eastern state of India. Nutritional composition of these millets in raw state and the compositional changes in nutrients during processing were studied in terms of proximate compositions, protein and starch digestibility.