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Manak, the high yielding cultivator of pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) released by (International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics) ICRISAT, India was subjected to various domestic processing and cooking methods viz., soaking (6, 12 and 18 h, 30 degrees C), soaking and dehulling, ordinary cooking, pressure cooking and germination (24, 36 and 48 h, 30 degrees C). The unprocessed seeds of this variety contained considerable amounts of phytic acid i.e. 917 mg per 100 g. This antinutrient was reduced significantly (P < 0.05) to varying extents (4-37%) in the processed samples. Except soaking and dehulling, the remaining processing and cooking methods did not lower the contents of total calcium, phosphorus and iron. That HCl-extractability of these dietary essential minerals, an index of their bioavailability, enhanced significantly when the pigeon pea seeds were processed and cooked, may be due to reduction in phytate content, which is known to chelate the minerals. A significant and negative correlation between the phytic acid and HCl-extractability of minerals further strengthens our findings.

Protein digestibility was found to be 60.4 to 66.5 percent in raw unprocessed seeds of different pea cultivars. Protein digestibility (in vitro) was improved by the common methods of domestic processing and cooking including soaking, dehulling, ordinary cooking, pressure cooking and sprouting of legume grains. Pressure cooking had more pronounced effect on protein digestibility followed by ordinary cooking, sprouting, soaking for 18 h and (12 h) and dehulling. Pressure cooking of soaked and dehulled seeds was noticed to give most improved protein digestibility.

All the pea varieties differed significantly (p < 0.05) in their phytic acid content. The field pea cultivars had significantly (p < 0.05) higher levels of phytic acid and polyphenols than those of vegetable pea varieties. All the domestic processing and cooking methods could reduce the contents of phytic acid and polyphenols but germination for 48 hours seemed to have a marked lowering effect on the levels of these antinutrients in peas.