Monitoring of Chemical Changes in Red Lentil Seeds During the Germination Process

Abstract

Red lentils are a very important raw material in the food industry due to their high protein content and high level of healthpromotingcomponents. The nutritive value of red lentils is the most important attribute from a research point of view;it can be increased by germination, soaking as well as physical and biochemical processes. The antinutritive materials are reduced or denatured by the germination process and indigestible components become available to the human body. Heat treatment was applied to achieve different temperatures and increase the microbiological stability of germinating samples. The effect of heat treatment on the amounts of certain components and the activity of oxidative enzymes was tested during our experiments; the nutritional characteristics (water-soluble total polyphenol content (WSTPC), water-soluble protein content (WSPC), water-soluble antioxidant capacity, in addition to peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase enzyme activities) of different treatments in red lentil samples were monitored. The WSTPC in our samples ranged from 0.726 mg Gallic Acid Equivalent GAE/g DW (DW being dry weight) to 1.089 mg GAE/g DW, and the WSPC varied from 19.078 g / 100 g DW to 29.692 g / 100 g DW. Results showed that germination led to an increase in the WSTPC and WSPC. The peroxidase enzyme activity also exhibited an increase during germination which could result in deepening of the colour of the finished products. Germination resulted in the water-soluble antioxidant capacity of red lentil samples decreasing.