Influence of Processing Techniques on the Nutritional and Anti-Nutritional Properties of Pigeon Pea (Cajanus Cajan)

Abstract

Pigeon pea is a perennial legume shrub often grown in a wide range of soil textures, from sandy soils to heavy clays. The study therefore investigated the effect of processing methods on the nutritional and anti-nutritional properties of pigeon pea. Pigeon peas were subjected to different processing methods which were sun drying and milling which serves as the control (sample A) soaking for 24 h, sun drying and milling (sample B) soaking for 12 h, de-hulling, sun drying and milling (sample C) and sprouting for 120 h, sun drying and milling (sample D). The proximate composition of pigeon pea showed that crude protein ranged from 16.74 to 38.43% with a significant increase in sample A, C and D while the crude fat that ranged from 11.80 to 24.61% showed significant difference in the samples. The moisture content which ranged from 7.91 to 13.65% is significantly highest in sample D. The anti-nutritional composition of the samples showed that phytic acid ranged from 5.27 to 7.61% with a significant decrease in sample D. The tannin content ranged from 11.52 to 14.72 mg/100g while protease inhibitor is 5.09 to 7.60%. The study however showed that traditional processing techniques significantly reduced the anti-nutritional properties.