Effect of Microwave Cooking on the Starch and Protein Digestibility of Some Newly Released Moth Bean (Phaseolus aconitifolius Jacq.) Cultivars

The unsoaked, soaked and soaked-dehulled seeds of some newly released high yielding cultivars of moth bean (Jwala, RMO 225 and RMO 257) and one local variety commonly used by the farmers, were cooked till soft in the microwave oven for different standardized time periods and analysed for starch digestibility and protein digestibility. The starch digestibility of unprocessed moth bean varieties differed significantly (P<0.05) from 25.35 to 28.18 mg maltose released/g flour. The protein digestibility also differed significantly from 70.29 to 74.65% among all the four varieties. Soaking (12 h) and soaking-dehulling of seeds prior to cooking reduced the cooking time considerably. Microwave cooking appreciably improved the starch and protein digestibility of unsoaked, soaked and soaked-dehulled samples. However, maximum improvement in starch digestibility (from 27.28 to 62.57 mg maltose released/g flour) was noticed in soaked-dehulled and microwave cooked samples of Jwala variety and similarly, maximum improvement in protein digestibility (from 72.29 to 87.56%) was noticed in soaked-dehulled microwave cooked sample of RMO 225 variety.