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Sharbati gives the softest and sweetest roti, Lokwan gives stronger dough at a lower price, and Sona Moti is the mineral choice, with SatRas publishing 4.13 mg zinc and 4.31 mg iron per 100 g. Neither Sharbati nor Lokwan is a registered variety name. Sharbati is a GI-protected wheat from the Sehore belt of Madhya Pradesh, and Lokwan is the market name for grain of the Lok 1 variety.
A roti carries the protein of the flour it was made from, and nothing else. At 10.57 g of protein per 100 g of atta on India's own composition tables, a roti rolled from 30 g of flour holds about 3.2 g and one from 40 g about 4.2 g. Published figures disagree because each page picks a different roti size and a different weighing basis.
No atta causes weight loss on its own. Whole wheat, bajra, jowar and ragi atta all sit between 320 and 348 kcal per 100 g, and their fibre differs by barely one gram. Besan is the outlier, at 15.15 g fibre and 21.55 g protein. Flour choice moves satiety and portion at the margin, and the energy deficit does the rest.
Multigrain atta beats whole wheat atta only when the non-wheat fraction is large enough and the right kind. India's standard 2.4.37 permits anything from 50 to 90 percent wheat, and requires the wheat percentage on the label. A 2010 Indian trial found a roti made with bengal gram, psyllium and fenugreek scored a glycaemic index of 27.3 against plain whole wheat roti's 45.1.
India grows three wheat species and has notified 546 varieties since 1964-65, on the ICAR-IIWBR count. Bread wheat holds more than 96 percent of the area, durum and dicoccum the rest. HD 2967 still carries the largest area ever recorded under one name, while newer IIWBR releases displace it. Sharbati and lokwan are retail grades, not notified varieties, so judge atta on published traits instead.
Leaf position settles it. Nitrogen is mobile inside the plant, so a shortage shows on the oldest lower leaves first and new growth stays green. Iron is immobile, so iron chlorosis hits the newest leaves and leaves the veins green against a yellow background. Overwatering yellows leaves at any height and the leaf goes limp. Diagnose before you feed, then reach for sarso khali or neem khali.
