Influence of ultrasonic treatment on the quality attributes of sprouted quinoa powder

This study examined the impacts of ultrasonic treatment (40 kHz, 0-150 W, for 5 min) on the moisture content, pH, acidity, color indexes, total phenolic content (TPC), and antioxidant capacity (AC) of sprouted quinoa powder. To produce sprouted quinoa, the quinoa seeds were soaked for 1 h with magnetized water. Then the quinoa seeds were incubated in a magnetic field at 25°C for 72 h for sprouting. The moisture content of the sprouted quinoa powders was in the range of 4.68 % to 6.31 %. The sprouting process and ultrasonic treatment increased the acidity of the quinoa powders, which also reduced the pH of the sprouted quinoa powders. High-intensity ultrasonic treatment (150 W) of quinoa significantly decreased the lightness parameter of the powders (p<0.05). The redness and yellowness indexes of the sprouted quinoa powders were in the range of 3.90 to 3.97, and 12.65 to 13.57, respectively. The findings showed that high-intensity ultrasonic treatment (150 W) significantly increased the TPC of sprouted quinoa powder from 1253.68 μg gallic acid/g to 1350.80 μg gallic acid/g (p<0.05). In addition, with increasing sonication power from 0 to 150 W, the AC of sprouted quinoa powders significantly increased from 88.20 % to 92.97 % (p<0.05). Overall, using high-intensity ultrasonic (40 kHz, 150 W, for 5 min) was selected as the appropriate treatment for sprouted quinoa due to increasing the TPC and AC of quinoa powder.