Milling and physicochemical properties of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) varieties

BACKGROUND: Physical characteristics of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) seeds such as grain size, weight and hull content are important from a milling and marketing point of view. Chemical characteristics provide the information on nutritional status of grains. Chickpea of Desi (cv. A1) and Kabuli (cv. L550) cultivars were analyzed for their physicochemical, milling and milled flour quality characteristics. RESULTS: Between dry and wet milling, higher yield of dhal was obtained from wet milling, which was found to be true in both cultivars. An extra yield of 2–4% was obtained in wet milling. Between the cultivars, Desi was found to be the higher dhal‐yielding cultivar in both dry and wet milling methods. Fat, ash and protein contents were found to be higher in Kabuli than in Desi and the values were respectively 5.3%, 3.5% and 24.9% for Kabuli and 4.3%, 2.2% and 22.6% for Desi. CONCLUSION: The chickpea cultivars Desi and Kabuli vary significantly in their physical properties such as seed color, size, 100‐seed weight and 100‐seed volume. Between the dry and wet milling, a higher yield (2–4%) of dhal was obtained from wet milling. Between the cultivars, electronic nose analysis of chickpea flour indicated the possibility of differentiating the variations associated with varietal difference and milling. The gel electrophoresis pattern of chickpea showed as many as 15 protein bands in flours from both the cultivars, either in phosphate or SDS buffer. The Rapid Visco Analyzer profile did not show a significant difference between the two cultivars. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Fermentation of rice-bengal gram dhal blends with whey: Changes in phytic acid content and in vitro digestibility of starch and protein

Whey fermentation of various rice and bengal gram dhal blends prepared by mixing them in different proportions at 35 °C for 18 h brought about a significant decline in phytic acid content. Phytic acid content in various blends decreased to the extent of 23 to 36 per cent over the control values. Whey incorporation as well as fermentation improved the starch and protein digestibility (in vitro) of all the rice-bengal gram dhal mixtures. Improvement in starch and protein digestibility is related to the reduction in phytic acid content, as this antinutrient is known to inhibit amylolysis and proteolysis. A significant negative correlation found between phytic acid and digestibility of starch and protein strengthens our findings.     

Physicochemical and structural characteristics of starches from Chinese hull‐less barley cultivars

Fourteen hull‐less barley cultivars, collected from four major cultivated areas in China, were employed to investigate the structural and physicochemical properties of their starches in this study. Relatively wide variations in physicochemical properties of the starches were observed. Amylose content ranged from 23.1% to 30.0%, swelling power and water solubility index ranged from 12.8 to 19.9 g g^?1 and 12.7% to 23.7% respectively. Peak viscosity was from 170 to 346 Rapid Visco Unit (RVU), peak temperature (T_p) of starch gelatinisation was from 55.6 to 61.8 °C and enthalpy of starch retrogradation ranged from 0.3 to 3.1 J g^?1. Weight‐based chain‐length proportions of fa, fb₁, fb₂ and fb₃ in amylopectins ranged from 21.65% to 24.95%, 44.48% to 49.44%, 15.56% to 17.19% and 9.83% to 16.66% respectively. Correlation analyses showed that amylose content was inversely related to pasting parameters and enthalpy of gelatinisation. Pasting properties and amylopectin structures were the most important parameters to differentiate starch properties among different hull‐less barley cultivars in this study. This work will be useful for exploring applications of Chinese hull‐less barley starches in food and non‐food industries.     

Chemical composition and nutritional characteristics of some hull less and hulled barley cultivars grown in India

Three hull less and nine hulled barley cultivars were grown during 1995-96 at Research Farm, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India and were used for chemical analysis such as nutritional and antinutritional parameters. Dolma, a hull less barley cultivar had higher contents of protein, fat, starch, in vitro digestibility of protein and starch, in vitro availability of Ca, Fe and Zn. Hulled cultivar BH-331 showed higher values of phytic acid (925 mg/100 g), polyphenols (625 mg/100 g) and amylase inhibitor activity (169 AIU) which might have contributed towards poor in vitro digestibility of Ca, Fe and Zn. Phytic acid and polyphenols manifested significantly negative correlation with in vitro availability of Ca, Fe and Zn and protein digestibility. Whereas amylase inhibitor activity showed significant and negative correlation (-0.992) only with starch digestibility.     

Chemical analysis and physico-chemical properties of chickpea and lentil cultivars

Some high yielding cultivars of chickpea (Kabuli and desi) (Cicer arietinum) and lentil (Lens esculenta) were used for chemical analysis and physico-chemical properties namely protein, fat, sugars, starch, in vitro digestibility of starch and protein; seed weight, seed volume, seed density, hydration capacity, swelling capacity, water absorption capacity and cooking time. Among chickpea, Gora Hisari (Kabuli) and Haryana Chana (desi) cultivars, and among lentil LH 82-6 cultivar manifested higher contents of protein, fat, sugars, starch and in vitro digestibility of starch and protein. Values of seed volume, seed density, hydration capacity, swelling capacity and water absorption capacity were also found higher for these cultivars which might have contributed towards less cooking time.     

Effect of Moisture Content on Pitting and Milling Efficiency of Pigeon Pea Grain

Pitting is a premilling operation in which pigeon pea grain is passed through a dehulling machine quickly to crack the hull or partly dehull the grain. A study was conducted to investigate the effect of grain moisture content on pigeon pea hull during pitting. Pitting of the grain was done at 6%, 8%, 10%, 12%, and 14% moisture contents using dhal mill developed by Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal (India). Grains having a cracked hull or partly dehulled during pitting varied from 35.3% to 85.3% with maximum value at 10% moisture content and reduced with an increase in moisture content. Maximum finished product in the form of dehulled whole (gota) and dehulled splits (dhal) was also obtained at 10% moisture content. Pitted grains of pigeon pea were treated with 0.28% cottonseed oil to study the effect of moisture content and pitting on dehulling efficiency, which was maximum (86.7%) at 10% moisture content.     

Methods for the estimation of protein in pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] and the relationship between whole grain and dhal protein contents

Protein determinations of 172 grain and dhal (decorticated dry split seed) pigeonpea samples were carried out using three methods: (a) micro-Kjeldahl (MKJ), (b) colorimetric estimation of NH₄+ with phenol hypochlorite reagents using the Technicon Auto-Analyser (TAA), and (c) dye-binding capacity (DBC) method using Acid Orange 12 dye. Protein percentages determined by the TAA and MKJ methods were highly correlated for whole-grain (0.948**) and dhal (0.967**) samples. The DBC method gave reliable results for dhal samples only. In the DBC procedure, higher protein percentages were recorded with smaller flour particles and longer mixing time, but different temperatures and durations of heating had no effect. Positive and highly significant correlations were obtained between the protein values of whole-grain and dhal samples in all the methods. Small grains gave a lower correlation between whole-grain and dhal protein content due to the observed negative correlation between grain size and percentage of seed-coat.     

Effect of Amylose Content on Gelatinization,Retrogradation and Pasting Properties of Flours from Different Cultivars of Thai Rice

Presently, rice cultivars are categorized according to amylose content into three groups: low, medium and high amylose content cultivars. The correlation of amylose content with gelatinization properties, retrogradation, and pasting properties of eleven cultivars of Thai rice were investigated. Rice flour was prepared from milled rice by the wet grinding process. Onset (T_o), peak (T_p) and conclusion (T_c) temperatures of gelatinization, (determined by DSC) were found to be highly positively correlated with amylose levels. This correlation could be used for prediction of amylose content of rice flour. Low amylose starch could also be characterized by low degree of retrogradation (%R). The data obtained from RVA‐viscograms (peak viscosity, breakdown, setback, and pasting temperature) can be used only for characterization of the group of low amylose starches (waxy rice). It was demonstrated that low amylose rice starch provided the highest peak viscosity and breakdown and the lowest setback and pasting temperature among the groups investigated.     

Properties of some protein fractions from bambara groundnut [Voandzeia subterranea (L.) Thouars]

Eight cultivars of bambara groundnut [Voandzeia subterranea (L.) Thouars] were examined for their protein, non-protein nitrogen, starch, reducing sugar, tannin and trypsin inhibitor contents. Protein (N × 5.71), starch and reducing sugar contents showed little inter-cultivar variation giving mean values of 18.7, 42.1 and 1.26 g 100 g^?1 whole seed, respectively. Tannin contents ranged from 0.36 to 0.94 g 100 g^?1 whole seed and trypsin inhibitory activity from 6.75 to 15.44 units mg^?1. The majority of the protein nitrogen present was extractable in water or dilute salt solution. Trypsin inhibitory activity was directly correlated with the quantity of protein nitrogen extracted from each of the cultivars, which in turn, was found to be inversely related to their tannin contents. This latter effect was modified by both the pH and the molarity of the extractant used.     

Starch granule-associated proteins of hull-less barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China

BACKGROUND: The starch granule‐associated proteins (SGAPs) are the minor components of the starch granules and a majority of them are believed to be starch biosynthetic enzymes. The Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau in China, one of the centres of origin of cultivated barley, is abundant in hull‐less barley resources which exhibit high polymorphism in SGAPs. RESULTS: The SGAPs of hull‐less barley from Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau were analysed by one‐dimensional (1‐D) SDS‐PAGE, 2‐D PAGE and ESI‐Q‐TOF MS/MS. In the 1‐D SDS‐PAGE gel, four proteins including a 80 kDa starch synthase, actin, actin 4 and ATP synthase β‐subunit were identified as novel SGAPs. A total of six different bands were identified as starch granule‐bound starch synthase I (GBSSI) and the segregation of the novel GBSSI bands in F₁ and F₂ seeds derived from yf127 × yf70 was in accordance with Mendel's law. In the 2‐D PAGE gel, 92 spots were identified as 42 protein species which could be classified into 15 functional groups. Thirteen protein species were identified as SGAPs for the first time and multiple spots were identified as GBSSI. CONCLUSION: This study revealed novel SGAPs in hull‐less barley from the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau in China and these will be significant in further studies of starch biosynthesis in barley. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

The effect of Rhizobium inoculation and chemical fertilization on seed quality of fenugreek

Proximate composition and quality of seeds of two fenugreek cultivars were examined for their response to inoculation, nitrogen fertilization and/or molybdenum application in two field experiments. Mo significantly (p≤0.05) increased 1000-seed weight and protein content of seeds. N had no significant effect on the quality of the seeds. Inoculation significantly (p≤0.05) increased fat, fibre and protein contents. The results indicate that fenugreek inoculation with compatible and effective rhizobia can improve the seed composition and quality.     

Gelatinization and Pasting Properties of Waxy and Non‐waxy Rice Starches

Gelatinization and pasting properties of diverse rice types grown in two locations were examined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and rotational rheometry, respectively. The data were compared to previously reported molecular starch properties for these samples: specifically, amylose content, starch molecular weight (M_w), and amylopectin side‐chain‐length distributions. Significant correlations were observed between amylose content, starch M_w, and the weight degree of polymerization of the long side chains of amylopectin F₁(DP_w) and many of the gelatinization and pasting properties measured. Higher amylose content corresponded with increased gelatinization onset (T_o) and peak temperatures (T_p), pasting onset and peak temperatures, and decreased peak and trough viscosity. Starch M_w correlated negatively with T_o, T_p, pasting onset, and peak temperature and positively with peak, trough, final, and breakdown viscosity. Amylopectin with DP_w 59‐78 of F₁(DP_w) correlated with increased T_o, T_p, pasting onset and peak temperature, and decreased peak, trough, final and breakdown viscosity. Pasting properties were also somewhat related to DP_w 21 of shorter side chains of amylopectin (F₂(DP_w)). Significant correlations between F₂(DP_w) and peak, final, and breakdown viscosity were observed (r = −0.447*, −0.391*, −0.388*, peak, final, and breakdown viscosity, respectively).     

Cooking characteristics,chemical composition and protein quality of newly developed genotypes of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L)

Eight newly developed pigeonpea genotypes (ICPL 87, ICPL 151, ICPL 270, ICPL 366, ICPL 87051, ICPL 87063, ICPL 87067, and ICPV 1), and the two controls (BDN 2 and C 11) were analysed for cooking quality parameters and chemical composition, including amino acids and minerals. Protein quality was evaluated by determining the true protein digestibility, biological value, net protein utilisation (NPU), and utilisable protein. These genotypes differed significantly (P < 0–01) in the dhal cooking time. Sensory properties of dhal of these genotypes were found to be within the acceptable range, even though there were considerable differences among genotypes. Dhal protein, calcium, magnesium, zinc, and iron contents of these genotypes showed noticeable differences. Calcium content of ICPL 87067 was the highest (85-6 mg per 100 g) and of ICPL 87 the lowest (54-4 mg per 100 g) indicating large differences among the newly developed genotypes. No noticeable differences in sulphur-containing amino acids of these genotypes were observed. NPU was the highest (65–4%) for ICPL 366 and the lowest (56–6%) for ICPL 270 and ICPL 87067 indicating significant (P < 0–01) differences among genotypes studied.     

Variability of Some Physico-chemical Characters in Desi and Kabuli Chickpea Types

A collection of 50 chickpea accessions (26 kabuli and 24 desi types) was evaluated for 2 years for eight physico-chemical seed characters: 100-seed weight, hydration capacity, hydration index, coat thickness and contents of protein, oil, acid detergent fibre (ADF) and starch. Significant differences were found between desi and kabuli types for the majority of the characters. The variance component due to the genotype×year interaction was important for the hydration index, starch and protein content, showing the importance of the year effect on genotypic expression of these characters. One kabuli accession and five desi accessions with high and stable protein content were selected. There was no overlap between the variation limits of desi and kabuli for coat thickness and ADF content. There were high positive and significant correlations between seed weight and oil content for both types of chickpea.     

Chemical changes and diastatic activity in grains of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) cultivars during germination

Grain samples from nine sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench) cultivars were germinated for 16, 48, 96 and 144 h, and changes in their diastatic activity, protein, starch, soluble sugars, tannin and total phenols contents were studied. The diastatic activity increased up to 96 h of germination and decreased at 144 h. Diastatic activity showed significant variation among cultivars, which ranged from 10.0 to 88.3 units at 48 h and from 20.0 to 150.4 units at 96 h germination. In general, starch content decreased while soluble sugars increased during germination. Variation in protein content during germination was appreciable among the cultivars.     

Colonisation and aflatoxin formation by Aspergillus spp. on brown rices differing in endosperm properties

Aspergillus flavus Link and A. parasiticus Speare differed in sporulation and aflatoxin B₁ formation on 15 brown rices differing in starch properties and protein content. There was no significant correlation between the degree of spore formation by the fungi and the amount of aflatoxin they produced in the rice samples. Differences in sporulation and aflatoxin production were not correlated with the dimensions (weight and hardness) of brown rice nor with the protein content, alkali spreading value, amylose content and gel viscosity of milled rice. Aflatoxin B₁ was mainly concentrated in the bran layers. Histological examination revealed that the hyphae of A. flavus entered through cracks in the periderm and penetrated the endosperm.     

Optimisation of sourdough bread incorporation into wheat bread by response surface methodology: Bioactive and nutritional properties

The optimisation of the quantity of sourdough (A) prepared with two different fermentation methods, [spontaneous fermentation (F1) vs. starter of lactic acid bacteria‐added fermentation (F2)], instant active dry yeast (B) and wheat bran (C) for a nutritionally improved bread formulation has been studied by evaluating the bioavailability and bioactive properties. The bread produced according to the optimised formula and fermentation types of F1 (OB_F1) and F2 (OB_F2) was compared with control bread (CB). The optimised levels for F1 were 11.45% for sourdough, 1.10% for dry yeast and 1.58% for wheat bran and for F2 6.99% for sourdough, 1.02% for dry yeast and 38.84% for wheat bran. The addition of sourdough significantly (P < 0.05) affected antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, in vitro ash and protein digestibility, and enzyme resistance starch contents of bread. The F1 fermentation method was found to be more effective in terms of bread properties examined.     

Effect of cultivar and environment on physicochemical and cooking characteristics of field pea (Pisum sativum)

The effects of cultivar, growing location and year on physicochemical and cooking characteristics of field pea (Pisum sativum) were investigated and the relationship between these characteristics was determined. Six diverse field pea cultivars were grown in five different growing locations for two subsequent years (2006 and 2007). Cultivar, location and year had a significant effect on the seed weight, seed size, water hydration capacity, cooking time and firmness of cooked peas. Significant cultivar and location differences in protein, starch, crude fibre, fat, ash and phytic acid contents of peas were observed. Most of the traits were significantly affected by the interactions: cultivar-by-location, cultivar-by-year and location-by-year. Both seed weight and seed size were negatively correlated with crude protein and crude fibre contents. Cooking time was negatively correlated with crude fibre, ash and phytic acid contents, but positively correlated with firmness and starch content. A significant positive correlation was observed between ash content and phytic acid level in peas.     

Factors influencing falling number in winter wheat

The Hagberg falling number (HFN) is one of the most important quality characteristics of wheat. Six winter wheat cultivars from three locations in Germany were analysed to assess the factors influencing the HFN. The cultivars and locations affected significantly the HFN of all the samples. The infection with Fusarium culmorum, determined in another cultivar, also led to an increase in HFN, which suggested that the HFN method is not adequate enough for the true determination of the alpha-amylase activity of fungus-infected, wheat flour. Furthermore, there was no clear correlation between HFN and thousand-kernel weight, starch content or pentosan content. The crude protein content was positively related to the HFN, while the total dietary fibre content depended on the cultivar and location.     

Physicochemical,morphological, and thermal properties of starches separated from bulbs of four Chinese lily cultivars

The starches separated from bulbs of four different lily cultivars (Lanzhou, Pinglu, Yixing‐1, and Yixing‐2) were investigated for physicochemical, morphological, crystalline, and thermal properties. AM content of lily bulbs starches from different cultivars ranged from 19.46 to 25.17%. The swelling power of starches ranged between 14.4 and 21.3 g/g, and the solubility ranged from 8.92 and 16.6% at the temperature of 85°C. Four cultivars of lily starches paste had excellent transparency and the transmittance value of Lanzhou lily as high as 54.7%. The transmittance of the gelatinized aqueous starch suspensions, from all lily cultivars, decreased with increase in storage period. The shape of starch granules varied from triangular to cylindrical and XRD of four lily starches all showed B‐type pattern. The transition temperatures and enthalpy of gelatinization (ΔH_gel) were determined using DSC. T_p varied from 62.52 to 65.25°C. Pinglu lily starch showed the highest ΔH_gel and gelatinization range (T_c–T_o) index among starches from four different lily cultivars.