Assessment of dehulling effect on volatiles, phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities of faba bean seeds and flours

Abstract

The effects of dehulling and milling of seeds on the volatiles of two Vicia faba L. cultivars were evaluated using headspace-solid phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME) coupled to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The phenolic constituents and antioxidants activities were also estimated on the same kind of samples. A total of 36 volatiles belonging to six different chemical classes were identified. Among them, 11 compounds were determined in the emission profile of whole faba bean seeds, 19 from dehulled legume seeds, 14 from whole seed flours, and 24 from dehulled seed flours. A difference in term of volatiles was observed between whole and dehulled seeds and flours. Additionally, the evaluation of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities showed significant differences between dehulled seeds in comparison to the corresponding whole ones, in terms of total antioxidant capacity, DPPH radical scavenging activity, β-carotene bleaching test, and iron reducing power. Nevertheless, the dehulling effect did not affect the total phenols, flavonoids, and tannins contents. Besides phenolic compounds in whole and dehulled faba bean flours, ascorbic acid was detected by HPLC-UV-DAD in both cultivars.