Study on Rehydration Characteristics of Dried Lablab Bean ( Lablab purpureus) Seeds

Abstract

The present study was carried out to evaluate the rehydration characteristics of solar and mechanically dried lablab bean (Lablab purpureus (L.) sweet; hitherto Dolichos lablab) seeds. Bean seeds with and without coat were used to study the rehydration properties. The rehydration ratios were higher for both mechanically and solar dried bean seeds without seed coat than those with coat. Mechanically dried without coat bean seeds had rehydration ratio of 2.34 while with coat was 2.06. For mechanically dried samples, the co-efficient of reconstitution were 0.58 and 0.56 for bean seeds without and with coat, respectively, and were higher than those of solar dried samples having co-efficient of reconstitution of 0.54 and 0.52 for bean seeds without and with coat, respectively. For both mechanical and solar drying the rehydration rate constant was higher for bean seeds without coat than those with coat. Both rehydration ratio and rehydration rate indicated that mechanically and solar dried bean seeds samples without coat showed better reconstitution properties than those with coat. Both fresh and dried bean seeds without seed coat gave higher nutrient content than their counterpart with coat. Solar and mechanical dried seeds were good source of nutrients. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jard.v6i1.1673 J Agric Rural Dev 6(1&2), 157-163, June 2008