The Effect of Germination on Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Activity of Chickpea

Germination is one of the most effective processes to improve the quality of legumes.vitamins and some other compounds that might be considered beneficial as antioxidants,often change dramatically during the course of germination. antioxidants might be defined ascompounds which are capable of preventing, delaying or retarding the development of rancidityor other flavor deterioration in foods or as protective factors against the oxidative damage in thehuman body. in this research, three different solvents were employed to extract the phenoliccompounds present in chickpea seeds and sprouts. total phenolic contents were measured byfolin ciocalteau method and the antioxidant activity was determined by two different methodsincluding the assay of hydroxyl radical scavenging activity and the oven test method. for thelater, different concentrations of extracts (0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08 and 0.1% w/w) were addedto tallow and the stabilities of the treatments were determined. peroxide value and inductionperiod measurements were used as means to evaluate the antioxidant activities. the resultsindicated that germination process modifies the antioxidant activity. although the amountof phenolic compounds was higher when acetone solvent was employed, methanolic extractindicated better hydroxyl radical scavenging activity. the evaluation of the antioxidant activityof the extracts activity was concentration-dependent by delaying the indicated oxidation andincreased when higher concentrations of the extracts were applied. therefore, chickpea sproutflour or extract might be used as a source of natural antioxidants in functional foods or in theformulation of the oil-based supplements or medicine in the form of capsule.