Improvement in Millet Soaking by Way of Bubbled Cold Plasma Processed Air Exposure; Phytic Acid Reduction Cum Nutrient Analysis Concern

Abstract

Pearl millet is one of the high-grown and underutilized grain crops. It is confined to traditional foods due to its anti-nutritional and functional properties. The present study investigated the influence of plasma processed air bubbling and soaking on phytic acid content, total and HCl extractable iron, physicochemical, techno-functional, and pasting properties of pearl millet. Exposure of pearl millet to plasma processed air bubbling at 180 V with an airflow rate of 10 liters /h for 1 h and 2 h reduced phytic acid content by 60.66 % and 39.27 % respectively. Whereas soaking for 12 h reduced phytic acid by 21.6 % in contrast with the untreated sample. The total iron content reduced from 39.9 to 29.8 mg/100g and HCl extractable iron content increased from 12 % to 69.49 % with the given treatments. Obtained data were noticed with significant changes (p < 0.05) and are in line with its exposure to the selected variable treatments. This work points to the potentiality of plasma processed air pre-treatment in the food industry to improve nutrition and mineral availability accompanied by modifying pasting, techno-functional properties of pearl millet.