CONTENTS OF TOTAL LIPIDS AND LIPID CLASSES AND COMPOSITION OF FATTY-ACIDS IN SMALL MILLETS - FOXTAIL (SETARIA-ITALICA), PROSO (PANICUM-MILIACEUM), AND FINGER (ELEUSINE-CORACANA)

Grain samples of small millets, namely foxtail (Setaria italica), pros o (Panicum miliaceum), and finger (Eleusine coracana), were extracted sequentially with hexane for free lipids, with hot water-saturated but anol for bound lipids, and again with hexane after acid hydrolysis for structural lipids. The total lipid content (dwb), comprising free, bo und, and structural lipids was: 11.0% (45.4, 47.3, and 7.3%) in foxtai l, 9.0% (62.2, 27.8, and 10.0%) in proso, and 5.2% (42.3, 46.2, and 11 .5%) in finger millets. The nonpolar lipids (NL), glycolipids (GL), an d phospholipids (PL), separated by silicic acid column chromatography, constituted 80-83%, 6-14%, and 5-14%, respectively, of the total lipi ds. The subclasses, separated by thin-layer chromatography, consisted chiefly of triacylglycerols in NL; esterified sterylglycosides, monoga lactosyldiglycerides, and digalactosyldiglycerides in GL; and phosphat idylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, and lysophosphatidylcholine in PL. Linoleic, oleic, and palmitic acids were the chief constituents in all the lipid classes. Linolenic acid was present in appreciable prop ortions in the PL classes.