Structural and physicochemical properties of pea starch affected by germination treatment

Two pea varieties were used to investigate the changes in the structural and physicochemical properties of pea starch during germination. The results showed that there were more obvious crimples on the surface of the germinated pea starch granules than native starch. Germination treatment led to significant increases in the amylose content and granule size distribution, while volume proportion of germinated pea starch significantly decreased. All the pea starches showed a typical C-type crystalline structure but the relative crystallinity slightly decreased during germination. Compared with the native starches, the light transmittance and absorption capacities of water and oil all firstly increased and then decreased with the increase of germination time. Moreover, there were obvious increases in the peak viscosity, trough viscosity and final viscosity, while the pasting temperature significantly decreased as germination prolonged to 4 d. The gelatinization temperature of pea starch firstly decreased and then increased during germination, while germinated pea starch showed higher gelatinization enthalpy than that of native starch. In conclusion, the structural and physicochemical properties of pea starch could be significantly affected under germination treatment, which may provide a theoretical basis to promote the utilization of germinated pea starch in the food industry.