Proximate, Anti-Nutritional and Functional Properties of Raw and Fermented Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) Seed Flours

Abstract

This present study was conducted to determine the proximate, anti-nutritional and functional properties of raw and fermented chickpea seed flours. The chickpea seeds were sorted, cleaned and divided into four equal lots of one kilogram each. The first lot was processed raw and used as a control, while the second, third and fourth lots were processed into fermented chickpea flours by spontaneous fermentation of each of them with the aid of naturally occurring microorganisms for 48, 72, and 96 h, respectively. The flours obtained were evaluated for proximate composition, anti-nutritional and functional properties using standard methods. The proximate composition of the samples showed that the flours had a range of 6.24 to 7.86% moisture, 10.72 to 22.46% crude protein, 1.21 to 3.47% fat, 1.32 to 2.38% ash, 2.14 to 3.31% crude fibre, 74.66 to 62.07% carbohydrate and 343.46 to 368.27kJ/100g energy. The anti-nutrient composition of the flours showed that the levels of trypsin inhibitor, tannin, phytate, oxalate, saponin and haemaglutinin decreased with the increase in time of fermentation. The functional properties of the samples revealed that the bulk density, water absorption, oil absorption, swelling, gelation and foam capacities of the flours ranged from 0.23 to 1.77 ml/g, 0.78 to 1.88 %, 0.56 to 1.81 %, 2.18 to 2.66 ml/g, 2.58 to 12.03 ml/g and 6.18 to 13.29 %, respectively. The results showed that the macronutrient contents as well as the functional properties of the flours increased with the increase in time of fermentation with the exception of fat, carbohydrate and bulk density. In addition, the study also revealed that the chickpea flour fermented for 96 h had higher nutrient density and better functional properties than the other flour samples fermented for 48 and 72 h, respectively, compared to the raw chickpea flour. This, therefore, showed that the chickpea flour fermented for 96 h could be utilized both as a nutritionally-enhanced and functional ingredient in the production of a diverse novel food products than the other fermented flour samples especially, in areas where there are problems of food and nutrition security among the people.