Optimization of germination conditions to enhance the antioxidant activity in chickpea (Cicer arietimum L.) using response surface methodology

Abstract

Enhancing the bioactive components and antioxidant activity via germination is important to increase the nutritional profiles of legumes. This study focused on optimizing chickpea germination conditions, including soaking time, germination temperature, and germination duration, to maximize the bioactive components (total phenolic and flavonoid concentrations), antioxidant activity (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity), and soluble protein content. For statistical analysis, response surface methodology, a Box–Behnken design, was applied to optimize three levels each for soaking time (6, 12, and 18 h), germination temperature (20, 25, and 30°C), and germination duration (2, 4, and 6 d). As a result, the optimal germination condition was determined to be 6 h of soaking time and germination at 30°C for 6 d. This showed optimal responses for total phenolic content (1.63 mg GE/g), total flavonoid content (0.45 mg CE/g), antioxidant activity (3.22 μM TE/g), and soluble protein content (89.23 mg/g). The optimized process parameters were validated by comparing the predicted values from the response surface methodology with actual experimental values to confirm the accuracy of the model, which showed less than 8% error. Overall, this study provided optimized germination conditions to enhance the nutritional value of chickpeas through experimental and statistical approaches.