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

Abstract

AbstractBACKGROUND: 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