Amylase inhibitor activity (AIA) of chickpea extracts was investigated usmg pancreatic and salivary amylases. The extracts showed higher inhibitor activity towards pancreatic amylase than salivary amylase..Mean values indicated slightly higher inhibitory activity in desi than kabuli cultivars, though clear-cut differences were..not observed among-the cultivars. While in vitro starch digestibility of meal samples indicated no large differences among desi and kabuli types of chickpea, the mean values of digestibility of-isolated starches of kabuli -types wasp higher than those -of desi types: The mean values of stachyose were higher in desi cultivars. When desi and kabuli types were considered together, stachyose-and raffmose contents were not found significantly related to the concentrations of total soluble sugars while stachyose showed a significant correlation with raftinose.~ -iNTRODUCTlON ALTHOUGH NUTRITIONAL significance of cY-amylase inhibitors-of cereal grains has been studied (Granum and Eskeland, -198 I), amylase inhibitors of grain legumes have not received much attention. The growth inhibiting properties .of raw beans have been reported to be due .to the presence of heat labile factor which inhibited the in vitro. activity of pancreatic amylase (Jaffe and Vega, -1968). A large variation in the inhibitor activity of pancreatic amylase among the several species of food legumes. has been reported (Jaffe et al., 1973).The food legumes-.are also regarded as notorious inducers of -flatulence when they are consumed in large quantity. It has been reported that the two oligosaccharides, raffinose and stachyose, are the causative factors for flatulence and uncomfortable feeling often experienced upon ingestion of soybean products (Steggerda and Rackis,. 1967). In particular; the hydrogen component of intestinal gas is. formed by the fermentation of low molecular weight galac-.

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] accessions exhibiting contrasting reactions to the grain mold complex were grown in two consecutive rainy seasons at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru, India. Methanol and acidified methanol extracts of grains harvested at different grain development stages were analyzed for flavan-4-ols. The concentrations of flavan-4-ols in mold-resistant grains were at least 2-fold higher than in mold-susceptible grains in both extracts at or after 30 days of flowering. Concentration of flavan-4-ols in mature, grain sor ghums could, therefore, be an indicator of their potential resistance or susceptibility to grain mold, and this method could be an important tool in screening sorghum cultivars for such characteristics.

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] cultivars exhibiting contrasting reactions to the gram mold complex were grown a t Patancheru, India, in one postrainy (1988-1989) and two consecutive rainy seasons (1989 and 1990). Sorghum grain hardness was measured by four methods: grinding time required to obtain a fixed volume of flour from grains in a Stenvert hardness tester, force required to break the grains using Kiya and Instron food testers, and density grading in sodium nitrate solution measured as percentage of floating grains. Ergosterol concentration was determined in grains to assess the extent of mold damage. The Stenvert method was convenient and rapid and was significantly correlated with the other three methods but negatively and significantly correlated with the ergosterol concentration. Grains grown in the postrainy season exhibited higher hardness than those grown in the rainy seasons. Mold-resistant cultivars exhibited significantly greater hardness than mold-susceptible cultivars. Ergosterol concentration indicating the extent of mold attack was negatively and ~ignificantly (P < 0.01) correlated with Stenvert hardness values in mold-resistant phenotypically white sorghum grains (without testa) in both the rainy seasons.

Ram am urthi Jam bunathan,' Milind S. Kherdekar, and Pawan Vaidya5 In tern atio n al C rops R esearch In stitu te for the Sem i-A rid T ropics (IC R ISA T), P atan ch eru , A ndhra P rad esh 502 324, India Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] germplasm and breeding lines exhibiting contrasting reactions to the grain mold complex were grown at Patancheru, India. Grains were harvested at different days after flowering (DAF) and analyzed for ergosterol. M ethanol and acidified methanol extracts of grains were analyzed for flavan-4-ols. Ergosterol concentration increased with increasing DAF in the moldsusceptible accessions and was 10-fold higher in grains collected at 50 DAF than in the corresponding mold-resistant accessions. Ergosterol concentration could therefore be used to assess the magnitude of mold damage in sorghum grains. The correlation coefficient between ergosterol and flavan-4-ols concentrations was significant (P < 0.01) and negative in colored mold-susceptible and mold-resistant accessions that did not have testa, but no significant correlation was observed in white mold-resistant and mold-susceptible sorghum. This indicates that there m ust be another genetic trait or mechanism besides flavan-4-ols that is associated with mold resistance.

r d e h 'h~ plulitJ UniC h m m t b d Cmp Ruth Irutituta for tbs Semi-Arid Tropi~l (ICRISAT). Pu.nohuu-ah m 3%. wi. FuUy apad yanyrt hvr horn a r d~u m [SoqAum b~color (L.) Mmnch] germ pLM a d o n * &tuq both mutanm and awcsptibity to the pnin mold complex, ware c o U d at 66.89. and 70 d a~~ .her smummm (DAE) of DIM& They rsre extract4 in methanol f o U 4 by acidified & ud d & d for fLvur& Methanol md scidif~ed methanol extraetl of l a & of mold-A t .ccsrim contained at lout bfold hiher conwntntioru of flaw-&oh than ~wcsptible .mrim 11 56.89. .od 70 Dm. The cumnuation of 11.v~-4-oh WM monitored in the 11.r l a v a of mold-mistant eceajam t h t had no tseu at 77.84,91. and 98 DAE. and it docmud b l y st or .ftu 77 DAE. Tb. a h a t i o n of wmwntntion of tL.yu1-4-oh in sorghum leaven, theretors ofhn rops fm n c m n i q~ mrghum mmssioor for their pain mold mintnncs. 8.tcSmith (1960) reported the presence of lutsofoml in the mod a n t of wrghum d t i v m which ru chuactmhd by the ~rodwtion of8 blue-mm w l o r r h with mined &id. but lukdmol wan not detected in the fully deviloped h v w of norghum. Wattanon md Butler (1983) mpcuted the praence of an u n w d l e u~t h oN .nidh, ia the b.va of 12 linm of mrghum [Sorghum