The phenotypic traits and biochemical properties of the amaranth seeds were studied. Comparable values for crude protein content, albumins, and globulins fractions and overall coefficients of nutritional quality were found in the evaluated samples. | Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry Research Article Turk J Agric For (2016) 40: 761-771 © TÜBİTAK doi: Characterization of phenotypic and nutritional properties of valuable Amaranthus cruentus L. mutants 1, 2 1 3 4 Andrea HRICOVÁ *, Jozef FEJÉR , Gabriela LIBIAKOVÁ , Monika SZABOVÁ , Ján GAŽO , Alena GAJDOŠOVÁ 1 Institute of Plant Genetics and Biotechnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Nitra, Slovakia 2 Department of Ecology, Prešov University, Prešov, Slovakia 3 Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Slovak University of Agriculture, Nitra, Slovakia 4 Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Slovak University of Agriculture, Nitra, Slovakia Received: Accepted/Published Online: 1 Final Version: Abstract: Two selected mutant lines, C26 and C82, with highly significant 1000-seed weight and generated through irradiation treatment of Amaranthus cruentus L. ‘Ficha’, were evaluated and compared to an original nontreated control and reference variety Aztec. The phenotypic traits and biochemical properties of the amaranth seeds were studied. Comparable values for crude protein content, albumins, and globulins fractions and overall coefficients of nutritional quality were found in the evaluated samples. However, C26 showed significantly lower concentrations of celiac-related prolamins and glutelins in comparison with the control sample. Both of the mutagenesis-derived lines showed consistently superior performance of 1000-seed weight across two tested environments during a multiyear evaluation. C82 showed seed weight advantage over control seeds of Ficha and reference variety Aztec and it was released as a new amaranth variety named Pribina in 2013. Key words: Seed quality, morphological characteristics, mutation breeding, other grain 1. Introduction Plants, and particularly the horticulture section, are used by people for food, either as edible .
