Lebensm.-Wiss. U.-Technol.

36 (2003) 285–293

Effect of soaking and extrusion conditions on antinutrients and

protein digestibility of legume seeds
E.A. Abd El-Hady*, R.A. Habiba
Department of Food Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt
Received 28 August 2001; accepted 21 February 2002

Abstract

The effects of soaking (in water for 16 h) and extrusion conditions including barrel temperature (1401C and 1801C) and feed
moisture (18% and 22%) on antinutrients, total and phytate phosphorus and protein digestibility of whole meal of four kinds of
legumes (peas, chickpeas, faba and kidney beans) were investigated.
The results obtained indicated that the soaking and extrusion significantly decreased antinutrients such as phytic acid, tannins,
phenols, a-amylase and trypsin inhibitors. Moreover, extrusion processing decreased the percentage of phytic acid phosphorus to
total phosphorus. The in vitro protein digestibility of legume extrudates was also improved. Therefore, extrusion of legumes a priori
soaked in water for 16 h is recommended to improve the nutritive value of these legumes in order to increase its utilization by human
and animal when consumed directly or as an ingredient of certain meals.
r 2003 Swiss Society of Food Science and Technology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Legumes; Extrusion; Soaking; Antinutrients; Phosphorus; Digestibility

1. Introduction employed a wide range of processing techniques such

Legumes are a cheap and valuable potential source of
good-quality protein, and they are consumed in large
quantities in Middle East countries. Legumes such as
faba beans, pea seeds, chickpeas and kidney beans are
consumed widely in Egypt. These legumes are also rich
and inexpensive sources of carbohydrates, dietary fibers,
vitamins and some minerals including trace elements
(Gatel & Grosjean, 1990; Morrow, 1991; Bakr, 1996;
Embaby, 2000). The utilization of these legumes is
limited due to the presence of certain antinutritional
factors. Among these are phytates, polyphenols, enzyme
inhibitors (trypsin, chymotrypsin, and a-amylase) and
hemagglutinins (Fernandez, Aranda, Lopez-Jurado,
Garcia-Fuentes, & Urbano, 1997; Alonso, Orue, &
Marzo, 1998). On the other hand, Shahidi (1997)
reported that some antinutrients might exert beneficial
health effects at low concentration. Therefore, manip-
ulation of processing conditions may be required to
remove or reduce certain unwanted components. At-
tempts to increase the utilization of legumes have
*Corresponding author.
E-mail address: selhady@hotmail.com (E.A. Abd El-Hady).
as soaking, boiling, autoclaving, radiation, cooking,
roasting, dehulling, germination, fermentation, supple-
mentation with various chemicals and enzymes and
recently extrusion cooking (Van der Poel, 1990; Gujska
& Khan, 1991; Bishnoi & Khetarpaul, 1994; Fernandez
et al., 1997; Alonso et al., 1998; Alonso, Aguirre, &
Marzo, 2000a).
Extrusion cooking has advantages including versati-
lity, high productivity, low operating costs, energy
efficiency and shorter cooking times. Extrusion cooking
application to legume processing has developed quickly
during the last decade, and can now be considered as a
technology of its own right. Legume extrusion cooking
would allow reduction of antinutritional factors and
therefore improve the nutritional quality at a cost lower
than other heating systems (baking, autoclaving, etc.)
due to a more efficient use of energy and better process
control with greater production capacities (Reimerdes,
1990; Alonso et al., 1998; Quintana, Canovas, Morales,
Morales, & Ramos, 1998; Alonso, Grant, Dewey, &
Marzo, 2000b).
Our objective was to examine the effects of soaking
and extrusion conditions (barrel temperature and feed
moisture content) on antinutrients, ash, phosphorus,

0023-6438/03/$30.00 r 2003 Swiss Society of Food Science and Technology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0023-6438(02)00217-7
286 E.A. Abd El-Hady, R.A. Habiba / Lebensm.-Wiss. U.-Technol. 36 (2003) 285–293
protein and protein digestibility of whole meal of four
kinds of legumes which are widely used as a staple food
in Egypt.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Samples
Faba beans (Vicia faba), pea seeds (Pisum sativum),
chickpeas (Cicer arietinum) and kidney beans (Phaseolus
vulgaris) were purchased from the local market. The
whole legume seeds were divided into two parts. The
first part was soaked in distilled water (1:5, w/v) at 301C
for 16 h. The soaked seeds were drained and dried at
501C for 24 h. The second part of seeds was left without
soaking. Then, the two parts of seeds were ground
without dehulling to a desirable range of particle size
(200–500 mm) for extrusion by using a cylindrical mill.
Before extrusion, the moisture content of whole
legume meals was adjusted to 18% or 22% by adding
the required calculated amount of distilled water. The
quantity of water was added slowly during stirring with
a laboratory mechanical stirrer, then tempered by
leaving in polyethylene bags at room temperature
(E221C) overnight to allow the moisture to equilibrate
before extrusion.
2.2. Extrusion process
A Brabender Laboratory Single-Screw extruder
equipped with feeding device AEV 300, speed control
of the feeding device, temperature regulators for two
extruder zones and die barrel head was used to prepare
the extrudates. The barrel was divided into independent
electrically heated zones (feed and cooking zones)
cooled by air. A third zone, at the die barrel, was also
electrically heated but cooled by water. The extrusion
conditions were: temperature at cooking and die zones
was adjusted together at 1401C or 1801C but feed zone
temperature was adjusted at 1001C for all treatments;
screw speed 250 rpm; screw compression 4:1; feeding
screw speed 160 rpm and round die hole 3 mm. The
resulting extrudates were allowed to reach room
temperature, then sealed in plastic bags and stored at
room temperature until analysis. For each studied
attribute, four replicates (samples) were analysed and
three analyses were carried out for each sample.
2.3. Analytical methods
The A.O.A.C. (1984) methods were followed for the
determination of moisture (method No. 14.004), ash
(method No. 3.004), crude protein (N
6.25; method
No. 2.055-2.062) and tannins (method No. 9.110-9.112)
in the raw, soaked and extruded legumes. Polyphenols
were estimated using the method of Snell and Snell
(1953). Phytic acid and phytate phosphorus were
estimated by the procedure of Wheeler and Ferrel
(1971). Total phosphorus was colorimetrically deter-
mined as described (method No. 3.97-3.100) in the
A.O.A.C. (1984). Trypsin inhibitor activity (U/mg) was
assayed according to Kakade, Rackis, McGhee, and
Puski (1974). Alpha amylase inhibitor was extracted in
0.15 mol/L NaCl according to the procedure of Baker,
Woo, Throne, and Finny (1991) and assayed by the
method of Huesing, Shade, Chrispeels, and Murdok
(1991). One amylase inhibitor unit (AIU) was defined as
the amount that gives 50% inhibition of a portion of the
amylase that produced 1 mg maltose monohydrate per
minute.
In vitro protein digestibility (IVPD) was evaluated
using a multienzyme system (trypsin, chymotrypsin and
peptidase) according to the method of Hsu, Vavak,
Saterlee, and Miller (1977). The pH drop after 10 min
incubation period was recorded and the percent protein
digestibility (Y ) was calculated from the equation
Y ¼ 210:469  18:10X
where X is the pH change after 10 min.
2.4. Statistical analysis
The data were subjected to analysis of variance
(ANOVA) using general linear model procedure as
mentioned by Ray (1988). Means comparison was
performed using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Antinutrients
3.1.1. Phytic acid
Changes in phytic acid in extruded legumes with and
without presoaking are shown in Table 1a and b and
summarized in Table 6. The phytic acid contents in raw
legumes were 6.40, 8.21, 8.97 and 11.03 mg/g of faba
beans, chickpeas, peas and kidney beans, respectively.
Varietal changes have been reported by many workers
(Tabekhia & Luh, 1980; Burbano, Muzquiz, Osagie,
Ayet, & Cuadrado, 1995). Soaking reduced phytic
content in all tested legumes. These data are in
agreement with the finding of Alonso et al. (1998) and
it may be ascribed to the activation of the endogenous
phytase during the long soaking treatment and possible
enzyme action continued during drying step. The high
temperature (1401C or 1801C), short time extrusion
treatment further decreased the phytic content. The
higher temperature (1801C) was significantly more
effective in reducing phytic acid than the lower one
(1401C) as shown in Table 1b. The same trend was
Table 1

(a) Effect of soaking, feed moisture and extrusion temperature on phytic acid, tannins and phenols of extruded legumes

Treatment Feed Barrel Phytic acid (mg/g) Tannins (mg/100 g) Total phenols (mg/100 g)
moisture (%) temp. (1C)
Faba Peas Chickpeas Kidney Faba Peas Chickpeas Kidney Faba Peas Chickpeas Kidney
beans beans beans beans beans beans

Unsoaked
Raw Raw 6.40 8.97 8.21 11.03 492 330 260 233 850 460 590 639
18 140 6.86 8.34 8.16 10.90 430 278 245 223 713 430 520 621
18 180 6.23 8.08 7.96 10.10 397 255 226 206 708 420 511 612
22 140 6.26 8.16 7.71 10.30 438 257 230 211 750 402 490 610
22 180 6.05 7.90 7.33 9.64 426 236 190 196 635 392 470 539

Soaked
Raw Raw 6.10 8.50 8.00 9.95 485 269 210 229 810 393 550 610
18 140 5.50 7.60 8.04 10.41 426 233 196 190 644 379 380 494
18 180 5.28 7.21 7.44 9.77 387 229 214 185 559 350 270 486
22 140 5.10 7.32 7.74 10.05 366 214 195 178 618 360 360 429
22 180 4.80 7.14 7.35 9.53 362 200 210 171 618 343 283 413

(b) Meansa of phytic acid, tannins and phenols contents as affected by legume type, soaking treatment, feed moisture and barrel temperature tested for significance using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test

Legume type Phytic acid (mg/g) Tannins (mg/100 g) Total phenols (mg/100 g)

Faba Peas Chickpeas Kidney Faba Peas Chickpeas Kidney Faba Peas Chickpeas Kidney
beans 7.74 b 7.72 b beans beans 238 b 213 c beans beans 385 d 411 c beans
5.86 c 10.09 a 404 a 195 d 656 a 526 b

Soaking treatment Unsoaked Soaked Unsoaked Soaked Unsoaked Soaked

7.87 a 7.28 b 278 a 247 b 552 a 437 b

Feed moisture 18% 22% 18% 22% 18% 22%

E.A. Abd El-Hady, R.A. Habiba / Lebensm.-Wiss. U.-Technol. 36 (2003) 285–293

7.75 a 7.41 b 270 a 255 b 506 a 482 b

Barrel temp. 1401C 1801C 1401C 1801C 1401C 1801C

7.78 a 7.37 b 269 a 256 b 513 a 476 b

Means having the same letter within each property are not significantly different using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (Po 0.05).
a
Calculated a part from other effects (i.e. main effect).
287
288 E.A. Abd El-Hady, R.A. Habiba / Lebensm.-Wiss. U.-Technol. 36 (2003) 285–293

noticed by increasing feed moisture from 18% to 22%.
Soaking in acid solution followed by cooking has been
reported to decrease phytic acid content in chickpeas
(Nestares, Barrionuevo, Urbano, & Lopez-Frias, 1999)
and in faba beans (Fernandez et al., 1997). The effects of
the interactions of studied parameters are also shown in
Table 6.
3.1.2. Tannins
Significant variations were noticed in the contents of
tannins of the studied legumes (Table 1a and b). Raw
faba beans contained the highest value (492 mg/100 g)
while kidney beans showed the least (233 mg/100 g). The
long soaking time (16 h) in water resulted in a highly
significant reduction in tannins in all legumes (Tables 1b
and 6). Moreover, extrusion resulted in a further
decrease in tannin content. Extrusion temperature and
feed moisture showed significant effects. Alonso et al.
(1998) found that extrusion of peas under conditions of
1481C, 25% moisture and 100 rpm was most effective in
tannins reduction. Also, Alonso et al. (2000b) studied
the effects of extrusion and conventional processing
methods on protein and antinutritional factors in peas
and they found varietal changes in their tannin contents,
and extrusion was most effective in reducing tannins
than the other processes.
effects of feed moisture and barrel temperature are
shown in Table 1b. The two extrusion parameters
significantly decreased legume phenols. These data agree
with those of Alonso et al. (2000a) in extruded faba and
kidney beans.
3.1.4. Trypsin inhibitor
Changes in trypsin inhibitor of studied legumes due to
soaking and extrusion processing is shown in Table 2.
The raw peas, chickpeas, faba and kidney beans
contained 0.78, 15.08, 2.31 and 19.50 U/mg, respectively.
Soaking the raw legumes reduced the inhibitor by 15.4%
for peas, 9.2% for chickpeas, 19.9% for faba beans and
only by 1.5% for kidney bean. These variations in the
percentage of inhibitor loss may be attributed to the
changes in the seed coat permeability of these legumes.
The reduction of trypsin inhibitor by soaking pretreat-
ment may be due to the water-soluble nature of the
inhibitor that permits its migration from legume seeds
into the soaking medium. These results are in agreement
with those reported by many workers (Gatfield, 1980;
Ali, 1988). Complete inhibition of trypsin inhibitor in all
tested legumes was noticed by extrusion under all
studied conditions as seen in Table 2. These results
agree with the reports of Poel, Stolp, and Zuilichem
(1992) and Alonso et al. (2000a, b).

3.1.3. Total phenols 3.1.5. a-Amylase inhibitor

As shown in Tables 1a, b and 6, total phenols
significantly varied among the studied legumes. Raw
faba beans contained the highest level (850 mg/100 g)
followed by kidney beans, while pea seeds contained the
least phenol contents (460 mg/100 g). Soaking in water
significantly reduced legume phenols. The mean values
decreased, as shown in Table 1b, from 552 to 437 mg/
100 g. This decrease was due to leaching of water-soluble
phenols into soaking water. Extrusion of the tested
legumes further decreased their total phenols. The
The effect of soaking and extrusion conditions on a-
amylase inhibitors in peas, chickpeas, faba and kidney
beans is shown in Table 3. The amylase inhibitor was
not detected in all tested legumes except in kidney beans,
which contained 76.0 and 116.2 U/g, against pancreatic
and salivary amylases, respectively. These values
decreased upon soaking to 46.4 and 77.0 U/g, which
corresponded to 38.9% and 33.7% of the original
values. However, extrusion treatments completely
abolished the activity of the inhibitor. Studies on the

Table 2
Effect of soaking, feed moisture and extrusion temperature on trypsin inhibitor (U/mg)

Treatment Feed moisture (%) Barrel temp. (1C) Trypsin inhibitor (U/mg)

Faba beans Peas Chickpeas Kidney beans

Unsoaked Raw (control) Raw (control) 2.31 0.78 15.08 19.50

18 140 n.d. [100] n.d. [100] n.d. [100] n.d. [100]
18 180 n.d. [100] n.d. [100] n.d. [100] n.d. [100]
22 140 n.d. [100] n.d. [100] n.d. [100] n.d. [100]
22 180 n.d. [100] n.d. [100] n.d. [100] n.d. [100]

Soaked Raw (control) Raw (control) 1.85 [19.9] 0.66 [15.4] 13.69 [9.2] 19.20 [1.5]
18 140 n.d. [100] n.d. [100] n.d. [100] n.d. [100]
18 180 n.d. [100] n.d. [100] n.d. [100] n.d. [100]
22 140 n.d. [100] n.d. [100] n.d. [100] n.d. [100]
22 180 n.d. [100] n.d. [100] n.d. [100] n.d. [100]

n.d.=not detected.
Values in the brackets indicated the percentage decrease over the control values.
 E.A. Abd El-Hady, R.A. Habiba / Lebensm.-Wiss. U.-Technol. 36 (2003) 285–293 289

Table 3
Effect of soaking, feed moisture and extrusion temperature on a-amylase inhibitora (U/mg) of extruded legumesb

Treatment Feed moisture (%) Barrel temperature (1C) Kidney beans

Pancreatic Salivary

Unsoaked Raw (control) Raw (control) 76 116.2

18 140 n.d. [100] n.d. [100]
18 180 n.d. [100] n.d. [100]
22 140 n.d. [100] n.d. [100]
22 180 n.d. [100] n.d. [100]

Soaked Raw (control) Raw (control) 46.4 [38.9] 77 [33.7]

18 140 n.d. [100] n.d. [100]
18 180 n.d. [100] n.d. [100]
22 140 n.d. [100] n.d. [100]
22 180 n.d. [100] n.d. [100]

Values in the brackets indicated the percentage decrease over the control values.
a
Against salivary and pancreatic amylases.
b
Faba beans, peas and chickpeas showed no activity of the inhibitor against both amylases. n.d.=not detected.

properties of amylase inhibitors in some legumes are
reported elsewhere (Singh, Kherdekar, & Jambunathan,
1982; El-Sayed, Ramadan, Ali, & El-Morsi, 1997), also,
the effect of extrusion process on chemical changes has
been elegantly reviewed (Kokini, 1993).
3.2. Ash and phosphorus content
Ash contents of raw soaked and unsoaked legumes
against the processed soaked and unsoaked ones are
shown in Table 4. Differences in ash were noticed
according to kind of legume. Raw kidney beans had the
highest ash content (4.55 g/100 g), while faba beans
showed the lowest value (3.19 g/100 g). Similar values
have been earlier reported by Bakr (1996). Soaking the
raw legume seeds brought about a slight decrease in
their ash contents (Table 4). Varietal characteristics were
important factors influencing the transfer of some
elements from seeds to the surrounding aqueous
medium (Tabekhia & Luh, 1980). Kader (1995) found
that rate of water absorption varied according to legume
type.
3.2.1. Phytic acid phosphorus
Phytic acid phosphorus (Ph.P), total phosphorus
(T.P) and their percentage (Ph.P
100/T.P) of the
studied legumes are shown in Table 4. Ph.P followed
the trend of phytic acid previously discussed as the data
showed large variations among the tested legumes. Raw
unsoaked kidney beans showed the highest content
(3.10 mg/g), followed by peas (2.53 mg/g) and chickpeas
(2.30 mg/g) while faba beans contained the lowest level
(1.80 mg/g). A slight decrease was observed after the
legume seeds had been soaked in water. Similar results
have been reported in literature (Burbano et al., 1995).
Extrusion processing further reduced Ph.P, especially at
1801C and 22% moisture content. Phosphorus content
of phytate has been considered to be unavailable to
human and most animals (Fernandez et al., 1997).
The percentage of Ph.P to total phosphorus
(Ph.P
100/T.P) is very important since the phytate
phosphorus cannot be utilized by human being. This
percentage varied between 40% and 55.4% among the
raw legumes. Extrusion processing slightly decreased
Ph.P
100/T.P, which means increasing phosphorus
utilization. Many workers (Fernandez et al., 1997;
Nestares et al., 1999) reported that processing made
part of the Ph.P available. Also, some studies showed
that 40–60% of T.P of legumes was present as phytate
(Griffiths & Thomas, 1981).
3.3. Protein and in vitro digestibility
Changes in protein content of studied legumes due to
legume type and processing are shown in Tables 5a and
b and summarized in Table 6. Protein content in raw
unsoaked legumes varied between 28.97 g/100 g in faba
beans and 25.66 g/100 g in kidney beans. Soaking
decreased protein levels. This is due to leaching of some
of the water-soluble proteins into the soaking medium.
Extrusion processing also affected the protein contents.
Significance was shown due to barrel temperature, while
no significant effect was noticed for the feed moisture of
extruded legumes.
The in vitro protein digestibility (IVPD) greatly varied
among the tested legumes. Raw unsoaked kidney beans
showed the lowest IVPD (70.59%), while the rest of
legumes had comparable values (74.0–75.4%; Table 5a).
Extrusion processing enhanced the in vitro protein
digestibility in all studied legumes. For example, the
IVPD of the faba beans increased from 75.4% in raw
unsoaked seeds to 80.4% in soaked extruded seeds at
1401C and 18% moisture content. Also, the kidney
beans IVPD increased from 70.59% in unsoaked raw
 290

Table 4
Effect of soaking, feed moisture and extrusion temperature on ash, phytic phosphorus, total phosphorus and the percentage of phytic phosphorus to the total phosphorus

Treat- Feed Barrel Ash (g/100 g) Ph.P (mg/g) T.P (mg/g) Ph.P
100/T.P
ment moisture temp.
Faba Peas Chick- Kidney Faba Peas Chick- Kidney Faba Peas Chick- Kidney Faba Peas Chick- Kidney
(%) (1C)
beans peas beans beans peas beans beans peas beans beans peas beans

Unsoaked Raw Raw 3.19 3.56 3.35 4.55 1.80 2.53 2.30 3.10 4.50 5.12 4.60 5.60 40.0 49.4 50.0 55.4
18 140 3.16 3.56 3.38 4.43 1.93 2.35 2.29 3.07 4.46 5.06 4.51 5.42 43.3 46.4 50.8 56.6
18 180 3.11 3.50 3.22 4.35 1.75 2.27 2.23 2.85 4.36 5.04 4.57 5.55 40.1 45.0 48.8 51.4
22 140 3.12 3.55 3.20 4.53 1.76 2.30 2.17 2.90 4.47 5.03 4.46 5.40 39.4 45.7 48.7 53.7
22 180 3.12 3.60 3.19 4.42 1.70 2.23 2.06 2.71 4.40 5.00 4.51 5.55 38.4 44.6 45.7 48.8

Mean1 3.1470.03 3.5570.03 3.2770.08 4.4670.07 1.7970.08 2.3470.11 2.2170.09 2.9370.14 4.4470.05 5.0570.04 4.5370.05 5.5070.08 40.271.7 46.271.7 48.871.7 53.272.8

Soaked Raw Raw 3.11 3.39 3.00 4.42 1.73 2.39 2.25 2.80 4.30 5.02 4.42 5.20 40.2 47.6 50.9 53.8
18 140 2.99 3.41 2.91 4.49 1.55 2.14 2.26 2.93 4.37 5.01 4.47 5.20 35.5 42.7 50.6 56.4
18 180 2.95 3.42 2.92 4.11 1.49 2.04 2.10 2.76 4.22 5.06 4.34 5.10 35.3 40.3 48.4 54.1
22 140 2.96 3.35 2.92 4.39 1.44 2.09 2.18 2.85 4.31 5.00 4.46 5.12 33.4 41.8 48.9 55.7
22 180 3.00 3.37 2.91 4.14 1.35 2.01 2.07 2.68 4.27 4.99 4.42 5.15 31.6 40.3 46.8 52.0

Mean1 3.0070.06 3.3870.03 2.9370.03 4.3170.16 1.5170.13 2.1370.14 2.1770.08 2.8070.08 4.2970.05 5.0270.02 4.4270.05 5.1570.04 35.272.9 42.572.7 49.171.5 54.471.5

Ph.P=phytic acid phosphorus; T.P=total phosphorus and Ph.P
100/T.P=phytic phosphorus
100/total phosphorus
1
Overall mean7standard error, calculated a part from other effects (i.e. soaking effect).
E.A. Abd El-Hady, R.A. Habiba / Lebensm.-Wiss. U.-Technol. 36 (2003) 285–293
Table 5

(a) Effect of soaking, feed moisture and extrusion temperature on protein percentage and in vitro protein digestibility of extruded legumes

Treatment Feed moisture (%) Barrel temp. (1C) Protein (g/100 g) In vitro protein digestibility (%)

Faba beans Peas Chickpeas Kidney beans Faba beans Peas Chickpeas Kidney beans

Unsoaked
Raw Raw 28.97 26.50 25.98 25.66 75.40 74.47 74.00 70.59
18 140 28.89 25.53 26.49 24.96 78.40 77.63 78.22 76.77
18 180 28.70 25.69 25.02 22.88 78.40 77.27 79.40 77.31
22 140 28.43 25.85 25.77 25.50 78.20 76.22 77.50 78.74
22 180 28.22 25.61 25.66 25.43 78.61 75.59 80.16 76.41

Soaked
Raw Raw 29.60 26.99 26.30 25.73 76.00 75.20 74.80 70.21
18 140 29.69 25.13 26.14 24.13 80.40 77.85 80.20 79.26
18 180 29.64 24.46 25.90 23.57 78.06 78.05 79.67 77.36
22 140 28.41 25.33 24.96 23.35 79.64 78.05 80.39 78.04
22 180 28.38 25.95 25.03 25.60 78.93 76.76 81.11 77.30

(b) Meansa of protein and in vitro protein digestibility values as affected by legume type, soaking treatment, feed moisture and barrel temperature tested for significance using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test

Legume type Protein (g/100 g) In vitro protein digestibility (%)

Faba beans Peas Chickpeas Kidney beans Faba beans Peas Chickpeas Kidney beans
28.79 a 25.43 c 25.62 b 24.43 d 78.83 b 77.18 c 79.59 a 77.77 c

Soaking treatment Unsoaked Soaked Unsoaked Soaked

26.16 a 25.98 b 77.87 b 78.82 a

Feed moisture 18% 22% 18% 22%

26.04 a 26.10 a 78.39 a 78.29 a
E.A. Abd El-Hady, R.A. Habiba / Lebensm.-Wiss. U.-Technol. 36 (2003) 285–293

Barrel temp. 1401C 1801C 1401C 1801C

26.15 a 25.98 b 78.53 a 78.15 a

Means having the same letter within each property are not significantly different using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (Po 0.05).
a
Calculated a part from other effects (i.e. main effect).
291
292 E.A. Abd El-Hady, R.A. Habiba / Lebensm.-Wiss. U.-Technol. 36 (2003) 285–293

Table 6
Summary of analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the effects of legume type, soaking and extrusion conditions (feed moisture and barrel temperature) on
antinutrients, protein and in vitro protein digestibility

Sources of variance Phytic acid (mg/g) Tannins (mg/100 g) Phenols (mg/100 g) Protein (g/100 g) Digestibility (%)

Legume type (L) **** **** **** **** ****

Soaking (S) **** **** **** *** ***
Feeding moisture (M) **** **** **** NS NS
Barrel temperature (T) **** **** **** ** NS
Interactions
L
S **** **** **** **** NS
n
L
M *** *** **** NS
n
L
T **** ** ** **
S
M ** *** NS **** NS
S
T NS **** NS **** NS
M
T NS NS NS **** NS
n n
L
S
M **** **** NS
n
L
S
T **** **** **** NS
M
S
T NS NS **** NS NS
M
L
T NS **** NS **** NS
n
L
S
M
T NS ** **** NS
n
Significant at Po0.05; **significant at Po0.01; ***significant at Po0.001; ****significant at Po0.0001; NS=not significant.

seeds to 79.26% in soaked extruded seeds at the same
condition. These results agree with those of Alonso et al.
(2000a) in extruded peas and Quintana et al. (1998) in
extruded pinto bean meal. The nutritive value of legume
proteins has been known to be low in comparison to
animal proteins. This has been attributed to poor
digestibility, deficiency of sulfur amino acids and the
presence of antinutritional factors. The present treat-
ments (soaking and extrusion) have shown to improve
the in vitro protein digestibility, enhance phosphorus
availability (by reducing phytate and phytate phos-
phorus to T.P%), reduce tannins and polyphenols and
eliminate trypsin and a-amylase inhibitors when present.
Therefore, treating soaked legumes with extrusion at
conditions of barrel temperature and moisture content
of 1401C and 22% or 1801C and 22% would improve
the nutritive value of the studied legumes (peas,
chickpeas, faba and kidney beans).
In conclusion, extrusion of legumes a priori soaked in
water for 16 h is recommended to improve the nutritive
value of these legumes in order to increase its utilization
in human and animal nutrition when consumed directly
or as an ingredient of certain meals. Although, scale-up
and applicability of these findings to other large- or
commercial-scale extruders should not be overlooked.
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