EFFECT OF UV TREATMENT ON THE ANTI NUTRITIONAL FACTORS OF TWO ACCESSIONS OF VELVET BEAN,

Abstract

The effect of UV radiation on the antinutritional factors such as, total free phenolics, tannin, l-dopa, phytic acid, hydrogen cyanide, total oxalate, trypsin inhibitor activity, oligosaccharides and phytohaemagglutinating activity in the seeds of two accessions of velvet bean, Mucuna pruriens var. utilis collected from Karaiyar and Servalaru, Tirunelveli district, Tamil nadu, were investigated. UV treatment on overnight soaked seeds showed increase in the level of total free phenolics and tannins. UV treated raw seeds for 20 minutes reduce the level of L-dopa content of Mucuna pruriens var. utilis white coloured seed coat by 42%, black coloured seed coat by 44% whereas; UV treatment on overnight soaked seeds showed significant (p<0.05) increase in the level of l-dopa. Decrease in the levels of phytic acid, hydrogen cyanide and total oxalate in both UV treated raw and overnight soaked seeds as time interval increases. UV treatment (60-90 minutes) completely eliminated the trypsin inhibitor activity in both raw and overnight soaked seeds. Both the studied samples completely eliminated the phytohaemagglutinating activity with respect to the erythrocytes of ‘B’ and ‘O’ blood groups at the longest exposure. Oligosaccharides like raffinose, stachyose and verbascose were significantly (p< 0.05) reduced on UV treatment.