Nutritious green

CHAKKRAVARTHI green (Chenopodium album) (syn. Bathua, wild spinach) is a nutritious leafy vegetable of the beetroot and palak family (i.e. Chenopodiaceae).

Chenopodium is a polymorphous, mealy white erect herb, growing wild up to an altitude of 4,700m and cultivated throughout India. There are three forms under Chenopodium. The herb is common in agricultural fields. In the wild, the plant is low growing, but when cultivated, is tall growing and leafy.

The plant has a stem, rarely slender, often angled and striped green, red or purple. The leaves are dull green with a pale pink centre. The leaf lamina possesses a waxy coating. Flowers are borne in clusters forming compact or loosely panicled spikes in axils. The black seeds are slightly smaller than mustard seeds and have sharp margins.

Chenopodium is consumed in a number of foodstuffs. The tender shoots are eaten raw as salad or when cooked with curd. They are also cooked as vegetable. Hundred grams of leaves contain 3.7 g protein, 0.4 g fat, 2.9 g carbohydrate, 150 mg calcium, 80 mg phosphorus, 1.74 mg vitamin A, 0.4 mg vitamin B2 (riboflavin), 0.5 mg niacin and 35 mg vitamin C.

The seeds are cooked like rice or oatmeal or sometimes along with dal. In Tamil Nadu, the crop is popularly known as Parippukkeerai. In the Kullu valley, seeds are used to make soup and porridge. The flour is utilised for cakes and gruel. In Shimla, the seeds are popularly used in preparing soora, a local formented beverage as well as ghanti, an alcoholic drink. Seeds form an important source of food for livestock and poultry.

The crop can be grown on a variety of soil, including salinesodic, but sandy loam or loam soils are the best.

Chenopodium is propagated through seeds and about two kilograms are required for a hectare. Since the seeds are very small, they should not be sown more than a centimetre deep. October or November is ideal sowing time.

Thirty-day old seedlings can be transplanted to the main field at a spacing of 30 by 15 cm. If spaced, the plants grow well. After about 35 to 40 days, the seedling can either be uprooted or clipped and used as green. Subsequent cuttings can be taken at 15-day intervals till flowering. Growth increases with the magnesium content in the soil.

MINI C. SUSAN ANNA JOHN

The writers are with the Kerala Agricultural University.

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