Effect of processing methods on nutritional and anti-nutritional qualities of hybrid (COHCU-8) and traditional (C07) pearl millet varities of India

Abstract

Pearl millet is an essential food crop in the arid and semi-arid dry regions of Asia and Africa. It is a cheap source of several nutrients when compared to other cereals. Its use has been limited, however, due to the presence of anti-nutritional compounds such as phenols and tannins that result in poor digestibility and reduced palatability. It has been reported that different processing treatments would reduce the amount of anti-nutritional factors in the food grains. Nevertheless, the changes in the amount of important nutritional compounds with respect to the processing treatments are not yet clear. The objective of this experiment was to estimate the effect of different processing treatments such as soaking, sprouting and roasting on some of the important nutritional qualities of pearl millet. The experiment was conducted on a hybrid (COHCU-8) and a traditional (CO7) pearl millet variety to compare the changes in nutritional contents after different processing treatments. Untreated raw dry seeds were kept as control in all the experiments. Anti-nutritional factors such as total phenols (g 100 g-1) and tannins (g 100 g-1) as well as nutritional compounds such as carbohydrates (g 100 g-1), fatty acids (g 100 g-1), crude protein (%) and total free amino acid (g 100 g-1) contents were analyzed. The results revealed that sprouting treatments were the best among them in reducing the anti-nutritional factors while maintaining essential nutritional compounds. © 2007 Asian Network for Scientific Information.