Comprehensive Evaluation of Nutritional Quality of Foxtail Millet Based on Principal Component Analysis and Membership Function Method

ZHANG Aiqin; GUO Bin; LIU Lilong; LI Xuhua; WANG Qing; XU Rui; ZHANG Huan

doi:10.15933/j.cnki.1004-3268.2025.01.004

Abstract：In order to explore the characteristics of nutritional content of different foxtail millet varieties from Longzhong area in Gansu Province,establish a standard evaluation system of nutritional quality and screen the foxtail millet varieties with excellent nutritional quality,10 foxtail millet varieties from Longzhong area(Huining County,Baiyin City)in Gansu Province were used as materials,19 nutritional quality indexes including basic nutrients(moisture,ash,carbohydrate,protein,crude fat,starch,amylose,amylopectin contents and amylose/amylopectin),functional nutrients(flavone,total phenol,crude polysaccharide contents)and mineral elements(Zn,Mn,Cu,Fe,Ca,Mg,Se contents)were measured,and principal component analysis and membership function methods were used to evaluate the nutritional quality of foxtail millet.The results showed that there was significant difference in the contents of 18 nutritional components excluding moisture content from 10 foxtail millet varieties,with variation coefficients ranging from 1.58％to 103.46％,which indicated that there was great difference in the individual nutritional quality index among different foxtail millet varieties.Protein,amylose,polysaccharide,Mg,Se and Zn contents were determined as core indexes for the evaluation of nutritional quality of foxtail millet by principal component analysis,correlation analysis and cluster analysis.The nutritional quality evaluation model was established by principal component analysis,and the top three foxtail millet varieties were M-8(Longgu 23),M-10(Longgu 029)and M-9(Longgu 032)based on the comprehensive score of nutritional quality,consistent with the results of the membership function evaluation,which indicated that these three varieties had better nutritional quality.Ten foxtail millet varieties could be divided into three categories by cluster analysis,and class Ⅱ included M-8 and M-9,whose comprehensive nutritional quality performed better.