Vitamin C in leaves and seed oil composition of theAmaranthusspecies

The foliage of 62 specimens of Amaranthus belonging to 10 species of grain and four of vegetable type were analysed for vitamin C content. The overall range of vitamin C was from 69 (A. cruentus, AG-122) to 288 mg/100 g (A. hypochondriacus, Rasna) in the grain type and 62 (A. tricolor, Amar-peet) to 209 mg/100 g (A. tricolor, AV-101, exp) in the vegetable type (fresh weight). Variation of vitamin C with leaf position (age) was also studied. While the oil content in 110 lines of A. hypochondriacus varied from 4.4 to 13.2%, most of the specimens had promising oil composition with regard to unsaturated fatty acids.