Protease inhibitors and in vitro digestibility of karanja (Pongamia glabra) oil seed residue. A comparative study of various treatments

Trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitor activities (TIA and CIA) were assayed before and after processing of Karanja oil seed residue. Upon treatment, the loss of TIA and CIA varied with the type of processing or extraction: the reduction after solvent extraction ranged between 34 and 15%, respectively. These activities were completely removed in 2.4% HCl; 83.35 and 54.86% were removed on autoclaving; 33.86 and 15.30% on fermentation; and removal was 4.36–83.69% and 3.66–77.59% after exposure to different doses of gamma radiation (1, 5, 10, and 50 KGy). An in vitro digestibility study was carried out to confirm the inactivation of the inhibitors and showed improvements from 45 to 81%, with the maximum observed in 2.4% HCl solvent-refluxed residue. A linear relationship was observed between the reduction in protease inhibitor activities and the improvement in digestibility.