Anotace:
The work aimed to study the effect of processing methods, namely soaking, fermentation, germination, and roasting on anti-nutritional compounds, phytochemicals, and functional property of horse gram flour. Horse gram were soaked in water (1:3 w/v) up to 24 h to get soaked horse gram. While after 12 h soaking in water (1:2 w/v) seeds were ground into a slurry and allowed to ferment naturally for 48 h in a sterile flask. The soaked seeds after 24 h were spread in a muslin cloth to germinate for 72 h at 27±3°C, 90% RH. The unsoaked seeds were roasted on low flame for 10 min in an iron pan. Treated horse gram seeds were then dried in a cabinet drier at 50°C for 24 h except for roasted horse gram, and milling was done to get the flour. Anti-nutritional factors were significantly reduced after fermentation, particularly phytic acid, tannin and oxalate content were reduced by 69.5, 69.3, and 66.7 % respectively while reduction during germination was 61.6, 54.6 and 61.6 % respectively. But, soaking and roasting reduced polyphenols and flavonoids content. Meanwhile, increment in phytochemicals was observed during germination (26% and 30.7%) and fermentation (86.9% and 53.8%) respectively. In the case of antioxidant content, it decreased during soaking (28.7%) while increases during roasting (29.1%), germination (51.6%) and fermentation (59.9%). Bulk density and viscosity decreased during treatment, while water absorption capacity and oil absorption capacity increased in treated horse gram flour. The study showed that germination and fermentation can produce a significant reduction in anti-nutritional factor and a considerable rise in bioactive components along with the improved functional property of horse gram flour as compared to the untreated one.