Abstract
AbstractThe objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of various processing treatments (individual and combination) on iron, β-carotene, phytic acid, polyphenols and ash content of pearl millet (Pennisetum americanam). Grains were subjected to soaking, pressure cooking, steaming, malting, pearling and extrusion cooking for different time intervals such as soaking for 3, 6, 9 and 12 h; steaming for 5, 10, 15 and 20 min; pressure cooking for 2, 5, 7 and 10 min; controlled germination (malting) for 12, 18, 24, 36, 40, 46 and 52 h along with three combinations of treatments. Data revealed that phytic acid was reduced maximum (38.23%) by malting, whereas polyphenols (49.28%) and ash content (22.09%) were decreased maximum by pressure cooking. Loss of β-carotene and iron was also higher (29.79, and 16.03%, respectively) during pressure cooking in comparison to other processing methods. However, combined treatments showed higher retention of β-carotene and iron with more reduction of anti-nutrien...
Highlights
Pearl millet (Pennisetum americanam), known as Bajra in India, is an important food crop of South Asia and Africa
Different combinations of treatments for pearl millet processing The pearl millet grains were subjected to four different processing treatments, viz. soaking, pressure cooking, steaming, and controlled germination at different time intervals (Table 1)
Effect of steaming The results of the present study revealed that phytic acid was reduced significantly (p < 0.05) from its initial value of 683.07 ± 1.87 to 625.34 ± 3.34 and 616.93 ± 1.76 mg after 5 and 10 min of steaming, respectively (Table 4)
Summary
Pearl millet (Pennisetum americanam), known as Bajra in India, is an important food crop of South Asia and Africa. India is the largest producer of pearl millet both in terms of area and production (Yadav, 2014). It is termed as “nutricereal” due to presence of complex carbohydrates (67.5%), high proportion of dietary fibers, and other phytochemicals with neutraceutical properties (Sumathi, Ushakumari, & Malleshi, 2007). The protein’s biological value and digestibility coefficient of pearl millet were measured as 83 and 89%, respectively. The protein efficiency ratio of pearl millet (1.43) was more than that of wheat (1.2) (National Research Council, 1996)
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