Improvement in starch digestibility (in vitro) of various pigeonpea cultivars through processing and cooking

The starch digestibility of raw unprocessed seeds of different pigeonpea cu ltivars viz., ICPL-87, ICPL-151, UPAS-120 and Manak ranged from 11.7 to 20. 6 mg maltose released/g flour. Starch digestibility (in vitro) improved sig nificantly (P < 0.05) to varying extents by the common methods of domestic processing and cooking including soaking, dehulling, ordinary and pressure cooking and sprouting. Soaking for varying periods could increase the starc h digestibility (in vitro) from 13 to 38% in various pigeonpea cultivars wh en compared to the unsoaked seeds. The longer the period of soaking, the mo re was the improvement in starch digestibility. The corresponding values fo r enhancement in starch digestibility in soaked-dehulled seeds was higher t han in the seeds which were soaked only. When soaked-dehulled seeds were co oked, further improvement i.e. 7 to 11 times more than the control was obse rved. Pressure cooking was more beneficial than ordinary cooking. Sprouting for 48 h brought about 4 to 6 fold increase in starch digestibility. Overa ll, pressure cooking of soaked-dehulled seeds had the most pronounced effec t on the starch digestibility followed by ordinary cooking, sprouting, dehu lling and soaking.