Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Enhancement of Digestibility of Nutrients (In vitro), Antioxidant Potential and Functional Attributes of Wheat Flour Through Grain Germination

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Plant Foods for Human Nutrition Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Wheat grains were germinated at different time (12, 24, 36, and 48 h) and temperature (25, 30, and 35°C) to enhance the functionality of resultant flour. Results revealed that an increase in germination time and temperature enhanced the in vitro digestibility of starch (10.35–42.30 %) and proteins (6.31–44.02 %) owing to their depolymerization by hydrolytic enzymes. Total phenolic and flavonoid content of wheat during germination at variable conditions were enhanced significantly (p < 0.05) from 3.62 to 5.54 mg GAE/g and 32.06 to 54.33 mg QE/100 g, respectively. Germination at elevated temperature (35°C) for a prolonged time (48 h) increased the DPPH RSA by 58.85 %, reducing power by 80.40 % and metal chelating activity by 112.26 % as a result of the structural breakdown of bound phenolics. Increased activity of hydrolytic enzymes also results in a continuous reduction in the viscosity and lightness values of wheat flour. Tailored germination, therefore, can be offered as a tool to increase the nutrient digestibility and bioactive potential of wheat thus resulting in producing the naturally modified flour with enhanced functionality.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Ding J, Hou GG, Nemzer BV, Xiong S, Dubat A, Feng H (2018) Effects of controlled germination on selected physicochemical and functional properties of whole-wheat flour and enhanced γ-aminobutyric acid accumulation by ultrasonication. Food Chem 243:214–221

  2. Chen Z, Wang P, Weng Y, Ma Y, Gu Z, Yang R (2017) Comparison of phenolic profiles, antioxidant capacity and relevant enzyme activity of different Chinese wheat varieties during germination. Food Biosci 20:159–167

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Singh A, Sharma S (2017) Bioactive components and functional properties of biologically activated cereal grains: a bibliographic review. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 57:3051–3071

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Jayasena V, James AP (2013) Total phenolic and phytosterol compounds and the radical scavenging activity of germinated Australian sweet lupin flour. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 68:352–357

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Baranzelli J, Kringel DH, Colussi R, Paiva FF, Aranha BC, de Miranda MZ, da Rosa Zavareze E, Dias ARG (2018) Changes in enzymatic activity, technological quality and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) content of wheat flour as affected by germination. LWT-Food Sci Technol 90:483–490

  6. Chavarín-Martínez CD, Gutiérrez-Dorado R, Perales-Sánchez JXK, Cuevas-Rodríguez EO, Milán-Carrillo J, Reyes-Moreno C (2019) Germination in optimal conditions as effective strategy to improve nutritional and nutraceutical value of underutilized Mexican blue maize seeds. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 74:192–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Kaur H, Gill BS (2020) Comparative evaluation of physicochemical, nutritional and molecular interactions of flours from different cereals as affected by germination duration. J Food Measur Charact 14:1147–1157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. El-Adawy T, Rahma E, El-Bedawey A, El-Beltagy A (2003) Nutritional potential and functional properties of germinated mung bean, pea and lentil seeds. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 58:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Dikshit M, Ghadle M (2003) Effect of sprouting on nutrients, antinutrients and in vitro digestibility of the MACS-13 soybean variety. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 58:1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Sharma S, Singh A, Singh B (2019) Characterization of in vitro antioxidant activity, bioactive components, and nutrient digestibility in pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) as influenced by germination time and temperature. J Food Biochem 43:e12706

  11. Singh A, Sharma S, Singh B, Kaur G (2019) In vitro nutrient digestibility and antioxidative properties of flour prepared from sorghum germinated at different conditions. J Food Sci Technol 56:3077–3089

  12. Yang TB, Ooraikul B (2001) Studies on germination conditions and antioxidant contents of wheat grain. Int J Food Sci Nutr 52:319–330

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Ceccaroni D, Alfeo V, Bravi E, Sileoni V, Perretti G, Marconi O (2020) Effect of the time and temperature of germination on the phenolic compounds of Triticum aestivum, L. and Panicum miliaceum, L. LWT-Food Sci Technol 127:109396

  14. Perales-Sánchez JX, Reyes-Moreno C, Gómez-Favela MA, Milán-Carrillo J, Cuevas-Rodríguez EO, Valdez-Ortiz A, Gutiérrez-Dorado R (2014) Increasing the antioxidant activity, total phenolic and flavonoid contents by optimizing the germination conditions of amaranth seeds. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 69:196–202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Gómez-Favela MA, Gutiérrez-Dorado R, Cuevas-Rodríguez EO, Canizalez-Román VA, del Rosario León-Sicairos C, Milán-Carrillo J, Reyes-Moreno C (2017) Improvement of chia seeds with antioxidant activity, GABA, essential amino acids, and dietary fiber by controlled germination bioprocess. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 72:345–352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Singh A, Sharma S, Singh B (2018) Germination behaviour, physico-nutritional properties, and diastase activity of brown rice influenced by germination time and temperature. Acta Aliment 47:70–79

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Singh A, Sharma S, Singh B (2017) Effect of germination time and temperature on the functionality and protein solubility of sorghum flour. J Cereal Sci 76:131–139

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Bernfeld P (1955) Amylase and proteases. Methods Enzymol 1:149–154

  19. Akeson WR, Stahmann MA (1964) A pepsin pancreatin digest index of protein quality evaluation. J Nutr 83(3):257–261

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Sharma P, Gujral HS (2011) Effect of sand roasting and microwave cooking on antioxidant activity of barley. Food Res Int 44:235–240

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Woisky RG, Salatino A (1998) Analysis of propolis: some parameters and procedures for chemical quality control. J Apic Res 37(2):99–105

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Świeca M, Dziki D (2015) Improvement in sprouted wheat flour functionality: effect of time, temperature and elicitation. Int J Food Sci Technol 50(9):2135–2142

  23. Sandoval-Sicairos ES, Domínguez-Rodríguez M, Montoya-Rodríguez A, Milán-Noris AK, Reyes-Moreno C, Milán-Carrillo J (2020) Phytochemical compounds and antioxidant activity modified by germination and hydrolysis in Mexican Amaranth. Plant Foods HumNutr 75:192–199

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Ren SC, Sun JT (2014) Changes in phenolic content, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) activity, and antioxidant capacity of two buckwheat sprouts in relation to germination. J Funct Foods 7:298–304

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Zhang G, Xu Z, Gao Y, Huang X, Zou Y, Yang T (2015) Effects of germination on the nutritional properties, phenolic profiles, and antioxidant activities of buckwheat. J Food Sci 80:H1111–H1119

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Science and Technology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, 141004, India

    Arashdeep Singh, Hanuman Bobade, Savita Sharma, Baljit Singh & Antima Gupta

Authors
  1. Arashdeep Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hanuman Bobade
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Savita Sharma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Baljit Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Antima Gupta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arashdeep Singh.

Ethics declarations

Conflictof Interest

Declares that we do not have any conflict ofinterest to disclose for this manuscript.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Singh, A., Bobade, H., Sharma, S. et al. Enhancement of Digestibility of Nutrients (In vitro), Antioxidant Potential and Functional Attributes of Wheat Flour Through Grain Germination. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 76, 118–124 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-021-00881-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-021-00881-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation