Introduction Coriander ( Coriandrum sativum L.) is an important seed spice crop of Mediterranean origin widely cultivated in India for seed and leaf. Rajasthan is the major coriander producing state in the country. In Rajasthan, the south eastern humid plain zone (zone V) contributes about 98 percent of total coriander area and production. This implies that the agroclimatic conditions of this zone are particularly favourable for coriander production as the productivity of the crop in the zone is also higher than the state average. Kota (covered under zone V) is situated in between 25 11 N latitude and 75 54 longitude at 273 m altitude from mean sea level. It is covered under the humid south eastern plain zone (zone V) of Rajasthan. The rainfall varies from 650 mm to 1000 mm. The maximum mean daily temperature ranges from 24.5 C in the month of January and 42.6 C in May and minimum 10 C in January and 19.7 C in month of May. The predominant soil of the zone has black soils of alluvial origin with clay loam to clay in texture. The aroma of coriander is due to the presence of aromatic volatile compounds. Nowadays demand for volatile oil in the international market is going on increasing. The advantage of use of volatile oil is that it is 100 times more concentrated than the spice powder and hence is required in very less quantity and secondly, the colour of the food products to which the volatile oil is added remains unaltered. The preparation of different value added products require different quality parameters in a definite proportion in the average composition of seed. Keeping the above facts in view, an attempt has been made in the present investigation to compare the different check varieties of coriander for quality parameters in order to find out the most suitable variety for the preparation of different value added products. Materials and methods In the present investigations, eleven varieties of coriander were studied for the quality estimates viz., essential oil, fixed oil and crude fiber. The crop was The Journal of Rural and Agricultural Research Vol. 14 No. 2, 57-58 (2014) Received June 2014; Acceptance October 2014 Comparative analysis of coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) varieties for quality traits VIBHA DOSHI, PREETI VERMAAND ISHAN ULLAH KHAN Agricultural Research Station, Kota (Agricultural University, Kota) preetiarskota2005@hotmail.com Abstract Coriander varieties were assessed for quality traits viz., essential oil, non volatile ether extracts and crude fiber under south eastern Rajasthan conditions (Zone V). The variation observed among the varieties was significant for all the traits studied. Among all RKD-18 (Raj Pratap Dhania-1) was found to have high essential oil. Keywords: Coriander, essential oil, crude fibre raised in the year 2009 at ARS, Ummedganj Agricultural University, Kota. Coriander crop was harvested when 50 % seeds turned yellow. Representative samples were taken from the lot for analysis. The seeds were dried in the shed till around 12 % moisture remained. Total essential oil was estimated using Klevenger apparatus designed for extraction of essential oil lighter then water (AOAC, 1955a). Total nonvolatile ether extract was estimated using soxhlet apparatus (AOAC, 1955b). The crude fibre was also estimated according to standard method (AOAC, 1955c) Results and Discussion According to national and international quality specifications of coriander, the seed should have a minimum of 0.3% of volatile oil on volume by weight basis, a maximum of 15% crude fiber and a maximum of 10% moisture. In the present investigation, the coriander varieties differed among themselves with respect to the different quality traits as shown in Table 1. The highest essential oil content was found in RKD – 18 followed by CS – 2 and RCr – 480 while it was lowest in CS – 6, Hisar Anand, RCr – 41 and RCr – 20 which were at par with each other. The oleoresin content was found to be highest in Hisar Anand followed by CS – 6 and RKD – 18 and lowest in Pant Haritima, RCr- 20 and RCr – 436. The crude fibre percent was highest in CS – 6, RCr – 728 and RCr – 41and lowest in RCr – 436, Hisar Anand and RKD – 18. The highest percent moisture was obtained in Hisar Anand, CS – 6 and RCr – 728 whereas; it was lowest in RCr- 41, RCr – 480, RCr – 20 and RKD – 18. The desirable quality parameters of coriander for preparation of value added products or its direct consumption as whole or in ground form particularly includes percent essential oil and oleoresin content. This implies that higher the percent of these important parameters, the superior will be the quality. Besides these, the percentage of crude fibre and moisture should be considerably less as these components interfere with the extraction of essential oil and oleoresin from the seed for