Physico- chemical characterisation of Lepidium sativum (Garden cress) GA-1 seed

The Lepidium sativum - GA1 variety seed was analysed for various physical and chemical characteristics. The average values for length, width, thickness were found to be 2.32 ± 0.17, 1.16 ± 0.09 and 0.88 ± 0.07 mm respectively while the geometric mean diameter and spherecity were 1.33±0.57 and 0.57±0.04 respectively. Weight of thousand grains was 1.51 ± 0.26g and the average values for true and bulk density were 1227.43 ± 41.60 and 724.07 ± 9.91 kg.m -3. The value for porosity was 40.98 ± 1.41. The angle of repose (θ) and coefficient and friction for wood was 34.73± 0.45 and 0.57 ± 0.03. The seeds possess high nutritional value. The seed contains 5.67% moisture, 29.06% protein, 20.55% crude fat, 6.76% crude fibre, 5.8% ash and 38.26 % carbohydrate. The seed contains appreciable amount of essential Fatty acids (EFAs) with 29.79 % of linolenic acid, 11.16 % of linoleic acid and 12.89 % of arachidic acid. The seed contains various minerals with high amount of calcium (350.87mg/100g) and phosphorus (2313mg/100g).