Malfs prepared from some of the tropical cereals and millets were evaluated for their suitability in weaning food formulations. Pearl millet and finger millet malts exhibited high a-amylase activity within 2-3 days of germination, while maize, sorghum, wheat and triticale malts showed high enzyme activity after 4-5 days of germination. Malting drastically lowered the paste viscosity of cereal flours especially millet. Finger millet malt had desirable flavour and taste besides high amylase activity. Wheat and triticale malts also had acceptable flavour. Rice malt was bitter and pearl millet malt developed rancid odour and bitterness within a week after preparation.Key words: Tropical cereals and millets, a-amylase activity, malt acceptability.
IntroductionMalting of barley is a well-known process associated with beer production. The malting capacity of different cereals has also been studied Prom time to time and malts from wheat, sorghum and finger millet have been tested with regard to their use in food formulations,314 and also as adjuncts in brewing.12 Malting reduces the paste viscosity of slurries from cereal flours and thereby raises the calorie density of the slurry which is highly desired in weaning food formulations.28 Therefore, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the relative malting qualities of a few tropical cereals such as wheat, rice, triticale, maize, sorghum and some millets with a view to use their malted flours in the development of weaning food formulations.However, barley was not used in the studies as it is not a common crop in the Indian sub-continent and it is rarely used in weaning foods formulations.
Materials and MethodsFinger millet (Eleusine coracana), pearl millet (Pennisetum typhoideum). Foxtail millet (Setaria italica), proso millet {Panicum miliaceum), kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum), barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacia) and triticale seeds were obtained from different agricultural research stations in India. Wheat (Triticum aesiivum), maize {Zea mays), rough rice or paddy (Oryza saliva) and sorghum (Sorghum vulgare) were purchased from the local market. Rough rice was dchusked gently in a laboratory model centrifugal shelter, to remove the husk causing no damage to the germ.The seeds (1 kg batch) were surface sterilised with 01% lime water, followed by washing with water, and soaked in distilled water at 25°C in a BOD incubator. The steep water was replaced once every 4 h for the first 12 h and once every 8 h for the rest of the soaking period. Seeds were withdrawn from the steep at 2h intervals for the first 10 h and once every 6 h after up to 40 h. The moisture content of steeped seeds was determined by drying to constant weight at IO5°C in an air-oven. Separate batches of seeds steeped for 24 h (30 h in case of maize) were spread on moist cloth at 2S°C and germinated and grown up to 96 h. Samples were with drawn at 24 h intervals from the germination bed and the sprouted grains were sorted out and dried at 45°C in an airdrier to about 12% moisture. Devcget...
The physico‐chemical properties of starches isolated from native and malted finger millet, pearl millet and foxtail millet were studied. Malt starches, as compared with native starches, contained a majority of smaller granules, slightly more amylose, and exhibited higher gelatinisation temperature, lower swelling power, higher solubility in water as well as in dimethyl sulfoxide and lower intrinsic viscosity. The in‐vitro digestibility of starches from native and malted millets was more or less similar but it was different for different starches: pearl millet starch was more susceptible whereas finger millet starch was slighly resistant for amylolysis.
Starches were isolated in 36, 37 and 28% yields, from chick pea, cow pea and horse gram, respectively. Study of their properties revealed mixed granule population; single stage swelling with high solubility in water for cow pea and horse gram starches in comparison to chick pea starch; slightly higher solubility in DMSO for chick pea starch followed by cow pea and horse gram starches; a relatively high viscosity in alkaline solution of cow pea starch; and Brabender amylograms indicating a low slurry viscosity and low set back in the case of chick pea starch compared to the other two starches which exhibited considerable peak viscosity as well as retrogradation. All the starches contained amylose in the range of 32 – 34%. X‐ray powder patterns showed chick pea and horse gram starches to be of B‐type, whereas cow pea starch was of A‐type.
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