Higher iron pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) provides more absorbable iron that is limited by increased polyphenolic content

Table 1 Composition of the experimental diets ¹⁻³

Ingredient	*High-Fe*	*Low-Fe*
Ingredient	(Biofortified)	(Standard)
	g/kg (by formulation)
High-Fe Pearl millet (84.9 μg/g Fe)	750	−
Low-Fe Pearl Millet (25.9 μg/g Fe)	−	750
Skim milk, dry	100	100
DL- Methionine	2.5	2.5
Corn starch	47.5	47.5
Corn oil	30	30
Choline chloride	0.75	0.75
Vitamin/mineral premix (no Fe)	70	70
Total (g)	1000	1000
Selected components	mean ± SEM, n = 5 (by analysis)
Dietary Fe concentration (μg/g)	78.6 ± 0.51^a	22.1 ± 0.52^b
Phytic Acid (μg/g)	9940 ± 1380^a	10500 ± 230^a
Phytate:Fe molar ratio³	10.7 ± 0.55^b	40.2 ± 0.35^a

¹Vitamin and mineral premix provided/kg diet (330002 Chick vitamin mixture; 235001 Salt mix for chick diet; Dyets Inc. Bethlehem, PA).
²Iron concentrations in the diets were determined by an inductively-coupled argon-plasma/atomic emission spectrophotometer (ICAP 61E Thermal Jarrell Ash Trace Analyzer, Jarrell Ash Co. Franklin, MA) following wet ashing.
³Method for determining phytate is described in the materials and methods section.
^a,bWithin a row, means without a common letter are significantly different (P < 0.05).

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