EFFECT OF COMBINED GERMINATION, DEHULLING AND BOILING ON MINERAL, SUCROSE, STACHYOSE, FIBRULOSE, AND PHYTIC ACID CONTENT OF DIFFERENT CHICKPEA CULTIVARS

Chickpea is a good source of high quality protein, carbohydrates, vitamins (thiamine and niacin), and minerals. However, its use in industry has been limited by variation in composition with cultivar and also the presence of oligosaccharides, trypsin inhibitors, phytic acids, tannin, and haemagglutinin. Different technologies have been studied to eliminate or minimise the undesirable factors in chickpeas. None of the studied traditional technologies has been found to effectively eliminate or minimise all the undesirable factors in chickpeas. It is not clear whether a combination of these traditional technologies, more especially cooking of germinated and dehulled chickpeas, will significantly reduce all the antinutritional factors. The physical characteristics, stachyose, sucrose, phytic acid, fibrulose, and mineral content of different chickpeas cultivar were determined and compared with reference to infant and child nutrition. The selected cultivars were (1) dehulled and boiled before drying; (2) dehulled followed by soaking and boiling before drying; (3) boiled without dehulling before drying; and germinated, boiled followed by drying and dehulling . The effects of the processing on mineral, sugar, dietary fibre content were evaluated. Desiwere found to have lower seed weight, hydration capacity and swelling capacity compared to kabuli. Seed density, hydration index and swelling index did not vary with cultivar. The mineral density, stachyose, fibrulose, and hull content increased significantly (p<0.05) with the decrease of seed weight whereas phytic acid content did not vary. All processes resulted in an increase in calcium, phosphorous, zinc, and phytic acid and a decrease in potassium, iron, magnesium, sucrose, stachyose and fibrulose content regardless of cultivar type. Germination for 72 hrs followed by boiling, drying and dehulling resulted in highest reduction in antinutritional factors with minimal nutrient loss.It is feasible to use chickpeas as an excellent source of infant follow-on formula/weaning food with minimal mineral fortification and use of low phytic acid cultivars.