Effectiveness of Processing Techniques on the Retention and Bioavailability of Nutrients in Sorghum, Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench

The effect of various processing techniques namely soaking, blanching germination, roasting, puffing, decortication and milling on nutritional composition retention and bioavailability of nutrients of sorghum (PSC 4) was assessed. Puffing, soaking and germination resulted in a significant increase in the protein (6.8, 7.4 & 9.4% respectively) and dietary fiber (4.4%) while roasting and puffing significantly enhanced in vitro starch digestibility of starch (27.8-33.5%). Bioactive compounds like phenols (11.1-26.0%) and flavonoids (14.5-28.0%) were significantly reduced by processing while germination increased its antioxidant activity (16.7%). However, iron content was significantly increased by roasting and puffing (14.4-17.9%) while calcium and zinc content was reduced with processing applications. Since, germination and puffing showed affirmative relationship with retention of nutrients with enhanced starch, protein and mineral absorption, therefore, these techniques can be regarded as the most viable applications for household processing and are rather instrumental in popularizing sorghum as a sustainable substitute of staple cereals with enhanced nutrition to combat food and nutritional security.