Abstract: | Two improved strains of Pennisetum typhoideum (‘bajra’) were found to have a free lipid content of about 5.0% and bound lipid content of about 0.5%. In the non-polar fraction, sterol esters and hydrocarbons, triglycerides, free fatty acids, free sterols and partial glycerides were present with triglycerides as the principal constituents. Polar lipids were separated by two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography and lecithin was found to be the major component. Sterol-containing glycolipids (sterol glycosides and esterified sterol glycosides) were present in appreciable amounts. Phosphatidyl ethanolamine, phosphatidyl glycerol, phosphatidyl inositol, lysophosphatidyl ethanolamine, lysolecithin, phosphatidic acid, poly-glycerophosphatide, mono- and di-galactosyl glycerides and cerebrosides have also been tentatively identified. |