Search

Starch and fibre contribute to the energy components and add functionality to the end-product feed ingredients. An understanding of the impact of processing on carbohydrate content will support accurate formulation of feed. Six ingredients, grown or sourced in Canada, were used in this study. They included five pulses, Amarillo peas, Dun peas, chickpeas, lentils, and faba beans, and soybean meal (SBM) as a comparison. All ingredients were ground into fine or coarse products and then pelleted at one of three different temperatures. Grinding reduced the total starch (TS) content of Amarillo peas and chickpeas ( P 0.05). Finely processed SBM had higher ( P

Alternative sources of protein will be required in both human and animal nutrition to support ingredient sustainability and nutrient demands of a growing world population. Extrusion is one technique utilized to process pulses and is reported to increase starch and protein digestibility but also has the potential to transform nutrients into non-nutritious compounds. This study sought to compare the effects of extrusion on nutrient composition in Amarillo peas, Dun peas, lentils, chickpeas, and faba beans, with soybean meal (control). Each pulse was extruded at 18% or 22% moisture and 110, 130, or 150 °C. Compared to whole samples, extrusion increased crude protein content of Amarillo and Dun peas, and lentils, and it decreased in soybean meal ( P

In order to further improve the identification efficiency of tobacco mildew, a rapid identification model of tobacco mildew based on random forest algorithm was proposed in this study. In order to ensure the feasibility and pertinence of the model study, this study takes redried leaf tobacco as the research object, selects high-temperature and high-humidity environment as the experimental conditions, and obtains the sample data of the degree of tobacco mildew under different experimental conditions. At the same time, this paper constructs a rapid identification model of tobacco mildew with the help of random forest algorithm. Through the model experimental results, it is found that the accuracy of the model for the rapid identification of training samples can reach 93.82%, while the accuracy of independent testing is 94.84%. The experimental results fully reflect the availability and efficiency of the random forest algorithm model in the rapid identification of tobacco mildew.

Understanding the effects of processing pulses is required for their effective incorporation into livestock feed. To determine the impact of processing, Canadian peas, lentils, chickpeas, and faba beans, plus soybean meal (SBM; as a comparison), were ground into fine and coarse products and pelleted at three different temperatures (60–65, 70–75, and 80–85 °C). Grinding increased crude protein content in all the pulses ( P 0.05). Pelleting increased crude protein content in Amarillo peas, Dun peas, and lentils ( P

Pulses are important as alternative sources of protein and carbohydrates for the animal industry and, thus, require accurate evaluation of their nutrient profile during processing. Extrusion is a thermal processing of ingredients to induce physiochemical changes that convert them into more valuable products. The current study evaluated the effects of extrusion on the starch and fibre components of Amarillo peas, Dun peas, chickpeas, faba beans, lentils, and soybean meal (SBM). Pulses were extruded at 18% or 22% moisture and 110, 130, or 150 °C. Extrusion decreased ( P

Pasting and gelling behaviors of barley starches isolated from Cinnamon (waxy of 3.3% apparent amylose; WB), Golden Promise (normal of 26.2% amylose; NB), and amylose-only (high-amylose of 97.8% amylose; AO) varieties were examined over 95–140 °C cooking. Gelatinization temperatures of AO starch were significantly higher than those of WB and NB, thereby the former displaying negligible pasting viscosity at 95 °C heating. At 140 °C, AO starch was completely gelatinized and able to develop viscosity, particularly at the final pasting stage. Gel hardness of NB gradually decreased with higher cooking temperatures. After 140 °C cooking and storage, only AO starch formed a gel, exhibiting the largest hardness among the studied gels or pastes. Gelation mechanisms of the barley starches at 95—140 °C cooking were elucidated by visualizing their gel/paste microstructures under scanning electron microscopy. The insightful information on the physicochemical properties of the barley starches possessing 3.3–97.8% amylose will be meaningful for their industrial applications.

In this study, pulse (pea, lentil) and cereal (barley, oats) seeds were firstly milled into whole flours, which were then sieved into coarse and fine flours. The particle sizes of the three generated flour streams followed a descending order of coarse whole fine, consistent with the observation under scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Among the four crops, the three flour streams showed the same rank order of fine whole coarse in starch and damaged-starch contents but the opposite order in ash and total dietary fiber contents. Thus, those functional properties closely related to starch occurring in flour, such as L* (brightness), starch gelatinization enthalpy change (ΔH), and gel hardness, followed the same order of fine whole coarse. By contrast, protein contents of the three flour streams did not vary in pea and lentil but showed a trend of coarse whole fine in barley and oats, which could partially explain generally comparable foaming and emulsifying properties of the three streams of pulse flours as well as an order of coarse whole fine in oil-binding capacity (OBC) of cereal flours, respectively. The different particle sizes and chemical compositions of the three flour streams only resulted in a descending order of fine whole coarse in the pasting viscosities of the pulse flours but did not lead to such a clear trend in the cereal flours, which could be partly attributable to the different microscopic structures of the pulse and cereal seeds and their corresponding flours. This research clearly demonstrated that particle size, chemical composition, and microscopic structure were important variables determining the specific techno-functional properties of pulse and cereal flours.

Many concerns are being expressed about the biodegradability, biocompatibility, and long-term viability of polymer-based substances. This prompted the quest for an alternative source of material that could be utilized for various purposes. Starch is widely used as a thickener, emulsifier, and binder in many food and non-food sectors, but research focuses on increasing its application beyond these areas. Due to its biodegradability, low cost, renewability, and abundance, starch is considered a “green path” raw material for generating porous substances such as aerogels, biofoams, and bioplastics, which have sparked an academic interest. Existing research has focused on strategies for developing biomaterials from organic polymers (e.g., cellulose), but there has been little research on its polysaccharide counterpart (starch). This review paper highlighted the structure of starch, the context of amylose and amylopectin, and the extraction and modification of starch with their processes and limitations. Moreover, this paper describes nanofillers, intelligent pH-sensitive films, biofoams, aerogels of various types, bioplastics, and their precursors, including drying and manufacturing. The perspectives reveal the great potential of starch-based biomaterials in food, pharmaceuticals, biomedicine, and non-food applications.

Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) is an important economic crop and widely cultivated in rural areas in south of China. A previously uncharacterized disease was observed on field-grown tobacco during 2020 and 2021 around Tongren city, Guizhou province of China (27°59'25.73" N, 108°7'2.43" E). The disease mainly occurred from fast growing period (about 13-16 leaves) to leaf maturity stage. In severely diseased areas, the incidence rate was between 20%-100%. Symptoms first began as yellow-brown necrotic spots on leaves, then merged into larger irregular necrotic spots surrounded by chlorotic halos. Similar lesions were also found on the stems. Ten symptomatic leaf and stem samples were collected from the different infected plants for pathogen isolation. The small pieces of discolored tissues were surface-disinfected with 2% sodium hypochlorite for 3 min and 75% ethanol for 30 s, rinsed three times with sterile water, and blotted on sterile filter paper, placed on potato dextrose agar thenincubated at 28°C in the dark for 3-4 days. The obtained isolates were purified through single-spore culture. Colonies were initially white and fluffy in appearance, later turning gray. Hyphae were smooth, branched, septa, transparent or light brown. Spores were solitary, oblate or nearly spherical, dark brown to black, smooth, 14.3 to 16.1μm × 11.8 to 15.2 μm in diameter. DNA of fungal isolates were extracted using Fungi Genomic DNA Extraction Kit (Solarbio, Beijing, China), the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of the ribosomal DNA, β-tubulin (TUB2) gene and translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1-α) were amplified with primers ITS1/ITS4, βt2a/βt2b and EF1-1728F/EF1-986R, respectively. The resulting ITS, TUB2 and TEF1-α sequences were deposited at GenBank, NCBI under accessions MZ882151, MZ927749, MZ927747, respectively. The sequence identity of ITS, TUB2 and TEF1-α with those of Nigrospora oryzae strains HBN (KU254608), HGUP191068 (MZ724102) and LC7307 (KY019409) were 99.64%, 99.29% and 99.65%, respectively. Based on morphological features and phylogenetic analysis, the pathogen was identified as N. oryzae (Wang et al. 2017). Pathogenicity tests were conducted by placing agar plugs-containing fungal mycelia and agar blocks (control) on leaves of tobacco plants grown at 28°C with 60% humidity in greenhouse. Symptoms appeared on the pathogen inoculated leaves seven days after inoculation, whereas the control treatment remained symptomless. The pathogens were reisolated from diseased leaves and identified as N. oryzae based on morphological, molecular and phylogenetic analysis, which were fulfilling Koch's postulates. This pathogen was recently identified from watermelon and kiwifruit in the Guizhou (Far and Rossman, 2021). To our knowledge, this is the first report of leaf spot caused by N. oryzae on Nicotiana tabacum in China.

Maltogenic α-amylase (MGA) was used to modify granular waxy (WMS), normal (NMS), and high-amylose maize (HAMS) starches for improved functional attributes. MGA treatment for 24 h shortened the amylopectin branch chains of WMS and NMS, which considerably retarded their retrogradation during cold storage. Due to the effective degradation at both granular and molecular levels, MGA modification markedly diminished the pasting viscosities of WMS and NMS. The MGA treatment increased the resistant starch (RS) content of cooked NMS from 2.6% to 7.3%, resulting from the formation of retrograded amylose in MGA-modified NMS during incubation at 37 °C in the Englyst Assay. Different from the effective hydrolysis on WMS and NMS using an "inside-out" pattern, MGA hydrolyzed HAMS to a very low degree through "surface pitting", thus showing limited influence on its functionality. The reported novel findings will be meaningful for utilizing MGA to develop "clean-label" starch ingredients with enhanced functional properties.

The present study aimed to tackle research gaps regarding how infrared heating affected macro- and micronutrients of lentil flours from seeds varying in size. Infrared treatments reduced resistant starch contents of lentil flours from 26.1-33.6% to 6.0-17.8%, increased protein digestibility from 73.6-75.0% to 78.2-82.2%, and enhanced soluble dietary fiber contents from 6.1-7.8% to 7.4-10.3%. Infrared treatments did not alter the primary limiting amino acid of Greenstar and Imvincible lentil flours (tryptophan) but changed that of Maxim to methionine + cysteine at 150 °C heating. Regarding micronutrients, the thermal modifications decreased the levels of heat-labile B vitamins, including B

Rapid Visco Analyzer (RVA) is a reliable viscometer that is commonly utilized to measure the pasting properties of starch. The conventional model of RVA can only determine starch pasting properties at heating temperatures up to 95 °C, which thus cannot evaluate the performance of starch related to high-temperature processing, such as retorting, jet-cooking and extrusion. In this study, RVA 4800 ‒ the latest model of the viscometer having high-temperature capability ‒ was deployed to determine the pasting properties of representative waxy, normal and high-amylose starches of 1.8–69.7% amylose contents at heating temperatures of 95–140 °C. As the temperature increased from 95 to 140 °C, the pasting temperatures and peak viscosities of most waxy and normal starches remained unchanged, but their holding strengths and final viscosities decreased, which could be attributed to thixotropic breakdown and thermal degradation of starch molecules. Consequently, the paste adhesiveness or gel hardness of most waxy and normal starches was reduced at higher temperatures. By contrast, heating at temperatures above 120 °C completely gelatinized wrinkled pea and high-amylose maize starches, allowing the starch granules to swell for viscosity development and subsequent gel formation. Matrix structures of the freeze-dried starch pastes and gels were observed under scanning electron microscope to elucidate how the changes at granular and molecular levels at the tested cooking temperatures influenced the pasting and gelling properties of different starches. This research offered new insights into the relationships between the thermal properties, pasting properties and gelling ability of various starches at heating temperatures of 95–140 °C by using RVA 4800.

This study aimed to isolate starches of a high purity from starch-rich pea, lentil and faba bean flours and to characterize and compare the isolated starches with important commercial starches. Isolated pulse starches had a purity of 94.8-97.9% and contained only 0.9-1.1% damaged starch. The isolated pulse starches showed amylose contents and amylopectin branch-chain-length distributions similar to those of commercial pea starch. Therefore, the granular morphologies, crystalline structure, thermal properties, pasting properties, gelling ability and in vitro digestibility of the isolated pulse starches were comparable to those of commercial pea starch but different from those of commercial maize and tapioca starches. The desirable functionality of the pulse starches (e.g., strong gelling ability) renders them suitable for some specific industrial applications, and further modifications can be utilized to enhance their functionality for broader use. This research provided the fundamental knowledge required for future efforts to promote value-added utilization of pulse starches.

This study was conducted to compare the digestibility of pulse-based diets to grain-based diets based on varying levels of amylose and study how changes in digestibility impacts glycemic response in dogs. To establish glycemic response, six diets were formulated at an inclusion level of 20% available starch with varying amylose content. A grain-based diet was formulated using rice, while pulse-based diets consisted of smooth pea, wrinkled pea (4140–4 and Amigold varieties), faba bean, or lentil. Beagles (n = 8, 4 females, 4 males) were fed the 6 different test diets for 7 days in a randomized, cross-over, blinded design. At the end of each feeding period, fecal samples were collected and beagles were fasted overnight and subjected to a glycemic test (1g/kg of diet or glucose fed). Data collected were statistically analyzed using SigmaPlot 12.0 and significance was declared at P ≤ 0.05. Amylose levels of diets varied from 4.64% to 14.82% on a dry basis. The rice-based diet had the lowest amylose content, while the wrinkled pea (Amigold variety) diet had the highest amylose content. Following the collection of glycemic response and fecal data, repeated-measures, 1-way ANOVA’s were conducted. There were significant differences observed between diets based on peak glucose levels (mmol/L, P = 0.01). The rice diet had the highest peak in glucose, while the lentil-based diet had the lowest glucose peak. Significant differences were also seen between diets based on their digestibility (P < 0.001). Rice, lentil, faba bean and smooth pea-based diets had the highest levels of digestibility, while wrinkled pea varieties had decreased digestibility. Furthermore, varying amylose found in diets can be viewed as an impacting factor on glycemic response and digestibility. Incorporating pulses with higher amounts of amylose could be utilized in dog diets to promote a low glycemic response through decreased rates of digestibility.

This study aimed to modify granular lentil (LS), faba bean (FBS) and pea (PS) starches with maltogenic α-amylase (MGA) from Bacillus stearothermophilus, and the MGA-modified starches were then characterized and compared with that produced from native normal maize starch (NMS). MGA treatment did not change the wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) patterns for all starches. The chain lengths of amylose and long branch chain of amylopectin of all starches were shortened by MGA hydrolysis. The shortening of amylopectin chain length resulted in the retardation of retrogradation rates. The degradation of molecular and granular structures was attributed to the extremely low pasting viscosities of all MGA-modified starches. The 24-h MGA modification increased the resistant starch (RS) contents of cooked LS, FBS, PS and NMS by 5.9%, 6.5%, 4.2% and 4.7%, respectively. The information presented in this study will be important for pulse industries to find new markets for the underutilized pulse starches.

Alternative forms of protein are an important focus in nutrition. This study sought to compare the effects of pelleting and extrusion on nutrient composition and protein quality measurements of Canadian pulses. Pulses used for the study included: 2 pea variety (Amarillo and dunn), lentils, chickpeas, and faba bean. Ingredients were ground through a 10/64” or a 2/64” screen to create a coarse and fine ground product, respectively. Both coarse and fine ground ingredients were pelleted at 60–65, 70–75, and 80–85 C0. Fine ground ingredients were extruded at three different temperatures (110, 130, 150 C0) and two moisture levels (18 and 22%). Samples were collected for all runs at the beginning, middle, and end of each run for both pelleted and extruded samples. Samples were analyzed for proximate analysis, amino acids including lysinoalanine, total and damaged starch, and total dietary fibre (including insoluble and soluble). Data were analyzed using a mixed model via proc glimmix in SAS, where ingredient, process, grind, temperature, and extrusion moisture were treated as fixed effects with different interactions selected based on model investigated. Crude protein content of whole pulses was highest in faba bean and lowest in the Amarillo pea, with faba bean protein content significantly higher than all other pulses, and lentil protein content significantly higher than Amarillo peas (P < 0.05). All pelleting temperatures, nested within grind, significantly increased crude protein content of all pulses compared to whole pulses (P < 0.05). All extrusion moistures significantly increased crude protein content of all pulses compared to whole pulses (P < 0.05) and moisture/temperature interactions were significantly higher for all pulses compared to whole pulses (P < 0.05). Amino acid comparisons produced similar significant results. This suggests that pelleting and extrusion processing can have a positive impact on protein content of pulses and protein quality measurements in pulses.

In this study, pea starch (41.5% amylose), normal corn starch (32.9% amylose), and waxy corn starch (1.7% amylose) were modified using three concentrations of octenyl succinic anhydride (OSA). The degrees of substitution, thermal properties, and pasting properties of the derived OS-starches were determined. Canola oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions were prepared using a high-pressure homogenizer with the OS-starches to evaluate their emulsifying properties, with gum Arabic (GA) being included as the industry standard for comparison. Droplet-size distributions, zeta potentials, accelerated stability, and storage stability of the resultant emulsions were determined and compared. Emulsion stability under various environmental conditions was also investigated, including pH 2–7, 0–1.0 M sodium chloride in aqueous medium, and incubation at 90 °C for 30 min. Overall, the ability of the emulsifiers in stabilizing O/W emulsions followed an ascending order of OS-PS

The chemical composition, functional properties, starch digestibility, and cookie-baking performance of bean powders from 25 edible dry bean varieties grown in Michigan were evaluated. The beans were ground into coarse (particle size ≤1.0 mm) or fine (≤0.5 mm) powders. Starch and protein contents of the bean powders varied between 34.4 and 44.5% and between 19.1 and 26.6% (dry basis [db]), respectively. Thermal properties, pasting properties, and water-holding and oil-binding capacities of the bean powders differed and were affected by particle size. After blending the bean powders with corn starch (bean/starch = 7:3, db), the blends were used for cookie baking following a standard method (AACC International Approved Method 10-54.01). Generally, the cookies baked from the fine bean powders had smaller diameters, greater thicknesses, and greater hardness values than those from the coarse counterparts. Differences in the cookie-baking performances of the bean powders were observed among the 25 varieties. La...

Wrinkled and round peas (two varieties each type) cultivated in two locations were milled to obtain fine and coarse wrinkled (WPF) and round pea flour (RPF). WPF exhibited markedly increased pasting viscosities at 120 and 140 °C compared with 95 °C. Overall, the pasting properties of WPF were considerably lower than those of RPF. Resistant starch (RS) contents of cooked WPF (17.2–22.2%, dsb) were significantly larger than those of RPF (7.9–11.4%), resulting from higher starch gelatinization temperatures, greater amylose contents, and presence of more protein and fiber in WPF. The two particle sizes affected the water-holding capacity (WHC) of WPF, gelatinization enthalpy changes (ΔH) of WPF and RPF, and pasting properties and starch digestibility of RPF. Pearson correlation and principal component analysis (PCA) were conducted to reveal the relationships among the techno-functional parameters of pea flours. Wrinkled pea showed promise to generate new pea flours with distinct functionality and enhanced nutritional value.

Type 3 resistant starch (RS3) was developed from native pea starch through acid thinning, debranching and recrystallization, and the resultant pea RS3 was then characterized and compared with that generated from native normal maize starch. Starting from the respective native starches, the modification method yielded 68.1% of RS3 from pea and 59.6% from normal maize. The particles of pea and normal maize RS3 showed a coarse surface and irregular shapes and sizes. Both pea and normal maize RS3 displayed the B-type X-ray diffraction pattern, with 41.0% and 37.7% relative crystallinity, respectively. In vitro starch digestibility assay revealed that pea RS3 – in both uncooked and cooked states – was less digestible by amylolytic enzymes than normal maize RS3 because the former possessed double-helical crystallites of a more compact structure. The information presented in the study is valuable for the development of RS ingredient from pea starch for food applications.

In this study, pasting and gelling behaviors of flours were investigated at heating temperatures of 95-140 °C. Overall, both peak and breakdown viscosities of the flours were positively correlated with starch contents (p 0.01) but inversely correlated with protein (p 0.01) and fiber contents (p 0.05) at 95-140 °C. When the heating temperature increased, pasting temperatures and peak viscosities of most waxy and normal flours largely remained the same, but their holding strengths and final viscosities gradually decreased. However, pulse and high-amylose maize flours required a holding temperature above 95 °C to achieve the highest peak and final viscosities. Normal maize and pulse flours formed hard gels after cooking at 120 °C, and high-amylose maize flour developed the firmest gel after cooking at 140 °C. Chemical compositions, particle sizes, and thermal properties of the studied flours influenced their pasting and gelling properties to certain levels under the different heating temperatures.

The impact of extrusion cooking on the chemical composition and functional properties of bean powders from four common bean varieties was investigated. The raw bean powders were extruded under eight different conditions, and the extrudates were then dried and ground (particle size⩽0.5mm). Compared with corresponding non-extruded (raw) bean powders (particle size⩽0.5mm), the extrusion treatments did not substantially change the protein and starch contents of the bean powders and showed inconsistent effects on the sucrose, raffinose and stachyose contents. The extrusion cooking did cause complete starch gelatinization and protein denaturation of the bean powders and thus changed their pasting properties and solvent-retention capacities. The starch digestibilities of the cooked non-extruded and cooked extruded bean powders were comparable. The extruded bean powders displayed functional properties similar to those of two commercial bean powders.

Resistant starch (RS) is commercially available as an important category of functional food ingredients. Starch tends to lose the enzymatic resistance upon heat treatment; however, there is a dearth of knowledge on how thermal treatment, especially high-temperature processing, influences the digestibility of different types of RS. In this study, two high-amylose maize starches (HA50 and HA70; RS2), Novelose 330 (RS3), and two cross-linked phosphorylated wheat starch (Fibersym and FiberRite; RS4) were cooked using Rapid Visco Analyzer 4800 at 95, 120 and 140 °C, and their in vitro digestibility was determined after 0.5 and 2.0-h storage at room temperature. The cooking step substantially reduced the enzymatic resistance of RS2, with the lowest RS contents being determined at 120 °C cooking upon 0.5-h storage. Generally, 2.0-h storage enhanced the enzymatic resistance of RS2 cooked at 120 and 140 °C, resulting from stronger re-association and retrogradation between starch molecules during the storage. In contrast, cooking over 95–140 °C did not considerably alter the RS contents of Novelose 330 and FiberRite, indicating their greater stability against high-temperature processing. Moreover, 2.0-h storage did not appear to further increase the enzymatic resistance of cooked RS3 and RS4. The relationships between the digestibility of cooked RS2-4 and their thermal, pasting and gelling properties were thoroughly discussed to elucidate the mechanisms contributing to the enzymatic resistance of the different types of RS under the examined conditions. The fundamental knowledge acquired from this work will be meaningful for the development and utilization of RS ingredients in food products processed under high-temperature conditions.

Lentils are an important member of the nutritious Leguminous crops, and the functional properties of lentil flours can be effectively improved by infrared heating, an efficient and short-time thermal processing method. This research primarily focused on the effects of tempering time (24–96 h) and seed size on the modification of lentils using infrared heating. Lentil seeds of three varieties, including CDC Greenstar (large green), CDC Imvincible (small green), and CDC Maxim (small red), were tempered at 25% moisture for 24, 48 and 96 h and then infrared heated to a surface temperature of 130 and 150 °C. Overall, under the same infrared heating treatment, a longer tempering period and a smaller seed size led to greater degrees of starch gelatinization and protein denaturation. In addition, a smaller seed size and a higher surface temperature tended to cause a higher level of photodegradation of amylose (possibly amylopectin too). Due to these physicochemical changes, the combined treatment of tempering and infrared heating noticeably reduced the average particle sizes, enhanced the water-holding capacity, diminished the peak and final viscosities, and decreased the gel hardness of the processed lentil flours. Generally, more obvious effects were found with higher levels of starch gelatinization, protein denaturation, and breakdown of amylose. The present study advanced our understanding of how extended tempering and seed size influenced the techno-functional properties of lentil flours modified using infrared heating. The new findings from the research are meaningful for the utilization of infrared heating to process lentil seeds for the development of novel food ingredients.

In the present study, yellow pea (CDC Amarillo) and faba bean (CDC Snowdrop) seeds were soaked overnight and then germinated in the dark at ambient temperature for 24, 48 and 72 h. During the short-term germination, germination percentages higher than 96.6% were achieved and progressive growth of radicles was observed for both varieties. The soaked and germinated seeds were dried at 55 °C and milled into flours, and their chemical compositions, physicochemical properties and in vitro starch and protein digestibility were systematically examined. Overall, soaking and germination did not noticeably alter the chemical compositions of each flour. The most obvious changes in the physicochemical properties were found in the pasting, emulsifying and foaming properties of the pulse flours. Soaking and 24-h germination greatly enhanced the pasting viscosities of the flours; as the germination proceeded, their viscosities gradually decreased, resulting from the degradation of starch by endogenous amylase(s) during pasting. Germination progressively improved the emulsion activity and stability, foaming capacity and foam stability of both pulse flours. In addition, germination enhanced the in vitro digestibility of starch and protein of the flours; however, the treatment did not improve their in vitro protein digestibility corrected amino acid scores (IV-PDCAAS). Short-term germination of 24–72 h has been demonstrated to be an effective approach to generating pulse flours possessing diverse functional properties and enhanced digestibility of macronutrients.

As the leading cereal crop in the world, corn (Zea mays L.) plays a significant role in human foods. The focus of this review is on the structures, properties, bioavailability, and health benefits of macronutrients in corn, including its starch, nonstarch polysaccharides, protein, and lipids. With a large number of naturally existent mutants, corn and corn-based food ingredients with varying macronutrient compositions and different chemical structures and physical properties are commercially available. The corn varieties that have attracted the most interest in human nutrition include high-amylose, high-protein, and high-oil corn. Chemical compositions and molecular structures of starch, nonstarch polysaccharides, protein, and lipids from different corn varieties are comprehensively reviewed here and related to their physical properties, bioavailability, and physiological effects on human health. Particular emphasis is placed upon the impacts of high-amylose corn flour/starch on postprandial glycemic/insulinemic responses, insulin sensitivity, satiety/appetite, lipid metabolism/obesity, colon health, and mineral absorption. The information presented in this article will be useful for the utilization of corn and the development of corn-based food ingredients to prepare nutritious food products to improve human health.

This study aimed to characterize structures, physical properties, and enzymatic-hydrolysis rate of starch isolated from bamboo seeds (Phyllostachys heterocycla var. pubescens (Mazel) Ohwi) in comparison with that of indica and japonica-rice starch. The bamboo seeds consisted of 68.2% starch (dry basis, db), which was lower than the indica and japonica-rice kernels (85.1 and 87.1%, respectively). The bamboo-seed starch also had compound granules, with morphology and sizes comparable to the rice starches. The bamboo-seed amylopectin had a similar branch-chain-length distribution to the indica-rice amylopectin, and both had longer average branch-chain length (DP = 19.1 and 19.7, respectively) than the japonica-rice amylopectin (DP = 17.1). The bamboo-seed and indica-rice starches showed higher onset gelatinization temperatures (To = 68.9 and 71.9°C, respectively) and gelatinization enthalpy changes (ΔH = 14.2 and 15.3 J/g), larger percentages of retrogradation (57.1 and 55.4%), but slower enzymatic-hydrolysis rates (50.6 and 46.3% at 24 h) than the japonica-rice starch (56.4°C, 14.0 J/g, 11.4%, and 66.2%, respectively). The bamboo-seed starch displayed a higher pasting temperature but substantially lower viscosity than the rice starches, which could be attributed to its larger amylose content and smaller molecular weight and gyration-radius of the amylopectin.

Starch plays a significant role in the texture, stability, appearance, and nutritional value of food products. A comprehensive understanding of chemical compositions, structures, and functional properties of starch is crucial for proper utilization of this important ingredient to develop high-quality and nutritious foods. In this chapter, structures of major components (amylose and amylopectin) and minor components (including intermediate components, endogenous lipids and proteins, and phosphate monoesters) present in starches of different crop varieties are reviewed. Organization of the aforementioned components in semicrystalline starch granules is also discussed. Impacts of the chemical compositions and structures of various components on the functional properties of starch, including gelatinization, pasting, gelling, and retrogradation/syneresis, are covered, relating to the performance of different starches in food products and other applications.

Sugars and oligosaccharides in cereal grains include a diverse group of carbohydrate substances that are present as minor constituents. Research in the past few decades has greatly advanced our understanding of the effects of kernel development, storage and food processing on the chemical composition and functionality of these carbohydrate components. Sugars and oligosaccharides provide important functions and contribute significantly to the nutritional value of the food ingredients and products prepared from cereal crops. Suitable raw materials and proper processing conditions can be used to achieve desirable sugar and oligosaccharide profiles in the processed intermediates and final food products, which are crucial for their functional properties, sensory quality and nutritional value.