Legumes are a good source of bioactive components, besides being nutrient dense. These components have antioxidant properties and have a protective role against free radicals. Legumes like cowpeas are usually consumed after certain processing, so the present study was intended to assess antioxidant property of selected four cultivars of cowpea after going through various thermal (autoclaving, microwave, boiling, and roasting) and non-thermal (soaking and fermentation) processings. Thermal processing reduced total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) in all cultivars with respect to antioxidant activity of raw cultivars, while DPPH scavenging activity increased after all thermal treatments excluding few thermal processings. Non-thermal processing revealed increase in TPC, DPPH scavenging activity, and FRAP values, while TFC content showed a decreasing trend. A moderately high correlation between TPC and DPPH scavenging activity was observed in both kinds of thermal treatments indicating the role of phenolic compounds for antioxidant activity. It was concluded from the study that fermentation processing has promising effects on retention and enhancement of antioxidant activity of cowpea cultivars.
ARTICLE HISTORY
Purpose
Iron deficiency anaemia and zinc deficiency are major public health problems across the globe. Cereals and pulses are important vegetarian source of minerals like zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe), however, poor digestibility impairs proper availability of micro minerals in the body. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) were selected for study as they are important pulse crops consumed worldwide. Therefore, in order to remove antinutrients and enhance bioavailability of nutrients in chickpea and cowpea, extrusion cooking was selected as a technology and its impact was studied by an in vitro method. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Four chickpea cultivars, two desi (K 850 and PUSA 362) and two kabuli (PUSA 1108 and PUSA 1053) and one cowpea (Gomati) cultivars were selected for the study. Pulses were processed in a laboratory using a single screw food extruder. Raw and extruded pulses were analysed for antinutrients content, micronutrients content (Fe, Zn) and their bioavailability.
Findings
Extrusion cooking significantly decreased phytate in all cultivars of chick pea and cowpea with highest reduction (72.92 per cent) in PUSA 362; similarly, tannin and trypsin inhibitor decreased by 87.5 and 71.54 per cent, respectively, in Gomati cultivar of cowpea. All cultivars showed significant increase in protein digestibility. Iron bioavailability in all samples enhanced significantly; however, only 50 per cent cultivars (K 850, PUSA 362 and PUSA 1108) showed improvement in Zn bioavailability.
Originality/value
The present research therefore brought the outcome as an enhanced in vitro protein digestibility and bioavailability of micro mineral and protein in certain pulses having minimized antinutrients. Therefore, it is concluded that extrusion cooking is an effective tool in enhancing protein and micro mineral bioavailability.
Sesame seed and oil are widely consumed oilseed; therefore, the production of its seed cake is high. Sesame seed cake (SSC) has been generally utilized for animal feed because of the substantial amount of nutrients. However, human consumption is limited because of the high level of antinutrients. Therefore, there is a need to improve SSC in terms of antinutrients and antioxidants through thermal processing. Therefore, optimization of thermal temperature, ranging from 80 to 200°C, and time, ranging from 20 to 60 min, was done by response surface methodology, and
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