Total phenolic content and antioxidant activity of by- products from cereal and legume milling industries

Agro-industrial waste is often utilized as feed for animals or as fertilizers on farms, but they may be rich sources of certain health-promoting compounds like antioxidants. The objective of this research was to examine total phenolic content and antioxidant activity by DPPH radical scavenging method of certain legume and cereal industries by-products. Four types of by-products namely bengal gram seed coat, bengal gram brokens, rice brokens and wheat bran were studied for this purpose. The results showed that bengal gram seed coat extract possess much higher amount of phenolic content as well as antioxidant activity followed by bengal gram brokens, wheat bran and rice brokens. This suggested that these by-products could be used as functional ingredients for the development of health-promoting food sources.