Effects of treatments on keeping quality of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) sprouts

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of UV-irradiation, hot water dip (HWD) and ethanol vapours on the quality and storage life of chickpea sprouts. Chickpea seeds were washed, soaked and allowed to sprout (24 h). The chickpea seeds after sprouting were subjected to various treatments viz., ethanol vapour (30 min), hot water dip (50 ^°C for 2 min) and UV-Irradiation (10 kJm⁻² for 1 h). The sprouts after treatments were examined at 24 h interval until the spoilage. Sprout length, weight and total plate count were enhanced during storage at both the storage temperature. There was no significant effect of various treatments on sprout length and weight, except in ethanol treatment, where suppression was observed. The total plate count was not significantly affected by various treatments. Sensory quality (for appearance, taste, odour and overall acceptability) decreased with increasing storage period. Hot water dip treatment results in enhancing the shelf-life of sprouts which maintained upto 72 h at room temperature and 120 h at low temperature.