Millets; antioxidant activity; functional properties; in vitro digestibility; fabricated grains; pasta
Loading...
Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Abstract
The term ‘nutri-cereals’ has been dedicated to ten cereal grains by Government of India owing to
their agrarian and nutritional excellence. These are sustainable crops due to lower water
requirement and adaption to harsh environmental conditions. These grains possess biologically
active compounds which have several health beneficial properties due to antioxidative
mechanisms. The present investigation was carried out with the objectives of characterization,
processing and value addition of proso millet, foxtail millet, barnyard millet, white and red
sorghum. The nutri-cereal grains were characterized for physical and biochemical properties.
Further, these grains were subjected to different processing treatments viz. soaking (12 h at 25°C),
germination (48 h at 25°C), fermentation (20 h at 38°C) and dual processing (germination and
fermentation) at preliminary optimized conditions. Influence of aforesaid processing treatments
was assessed on anti-nutritional compounds, bioactive constituents &anti-oxidant potential,
techno-functional properties, in vitro starch & protein digestibility and structural-molecular
features of nutri-cereal flours. There was significant reduction (p<0.05) in the anti-nutritional
factors expect for saponins which increased during germination due to the fact that only those
compounds which are plant reserve material are depleted while those involved in defense
mechanism are increased during seed germination. Further, increase in total phenolic and
flavonoid content corresponded to antioxidant activity which was mainly due to enzymatic
degradation of cell wall constituents augmenting the release of bound polyphenols and their
biosynthesis during given treatments. Similar changes were also observed in technological
properties including water solubility, oil absorption, emulsification potential which increased
during these treatments while water absorption, gel consistency and swelling power were affected
due to molecular degradation of starch which limited their potential to retain water. Most
predominant impact was observed for dual processed nutri-cereal flours in case of all bio-technofunctional
parameters. Macromolecular degradation during germination and fermentation was
evident from scanning electron micrographs and FTIR spectrum further revealed variation in
molecular arrangement of starch and protein fractions. In vitro starch and protein digestibility
were also found to increase dur to triggered enzymatic action and better access to substrate after
germination and fermentation. Processed nutri-cereals were utilized to develop different food
formulations including extruded products (fabricated grains, pasta), fermented product (curd) and
indigenous products (premix, pancake, pinni and chappati). It was found that these nutri-cereals
flours could be potentially utilized for different products to add nutritional and biological value
without significant effect on the product quality and technological functionality. Organoleptic
evaluation suggested that processed nutri-cereal products were acceptable with respect to visual,
olfactory and textural attributes. It could thus be inferred that nutri-cereals (untreated and
processed) are potential ingredients for value added products.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Sharma, Rajan (2021). Millets; antioxidant activity; functional properties; in vitro digestibility; fabricated grains; pasta