Effect of enzyme pretreatment on dehulling, cooking time and protein content of pigeon pea (variety BDN2).

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of enzymatic pretreatment at different enzyme concentration, incubation time, incubation temperature and tempering water pH on the hulling efficiency, cooking quality and protein content of pigeon pea (variety BDN2). Response surface methodology based on a four-factor, five-level, central composite design was employed to study the effect of the independent variables and optimize processing conditions. A quadratic model satisfactorily described the hulling efficiency, cooking time and protein content with high value for the coefficient of determination R (0.95, 0.92 and 0.97 respectively). It predicted a maximum hulling efficiency of 84.35%, minimum cooking time 13.06 min and maximum protein content 22.60% at enzyme concentration, and 31.34 mg/100 g dry matter, incubation time, 8.72 h, incubation temperature, 43.47 °C and tempering water, pH 5.99. Results were also compared with hulling efficiency, cooking time and protein content obtained with traditional oil pretreated method 78.30%, 14.30 min and 18.53% respectively. It revealed that hulling efficiency and protein content of enzyme pretreated pigeon pea could be increased 2.44% and 6.77% respectively, whereas cooking time could be reduced 1.50 min compared to the oil pretreated method.