Functional properties and retrogradation behaviour of native and chemically modified starch of mucuna bean (Mucuna pruriens)

Mucuna bean (Mucuna pruriens) starch was isolated and subjected to chemical modification by oxidation and acetylation. The proximate analysis of the non-starch components of the native starch on a dry weight basis was 92 g kg-1 moisture, 5 g kg-1 ash, 2 g kg-1 fat, 7 g kg-1 crude fibre and 19 g kg-1 protein. Chemical modification reduced the values for all the non-starch components except the moisture level. For all the samples, swelling power and solubility increased as the temperature increased in the range 50-90°C. The swelling power of mucuna native starch (MNS) and mucuna acetylated starch (MAS) increased with increasing acidity and alkalinity, while that of mucuna oxidised starch (MOS) only increased with increasing pH in the acidic range. The maximal solubility of all the starches was observed at pH 12. All the starch samples absorbed more oil than water. The lowest gelation concentration followed the trend MAS < MNS < MOS. Chemical modification reduced the gelatinisation temperature (Tp), while peak viscosity (Pv), hot paste viscosity (Hv) and cold paste viscosity (Cv) decreased after oxidation but increased following acetylation. The setback tendency of the native starch was reduced significantly after chemical modification. However, the breakdown value of MNS, 65 BU (Brabender units), was lower than that of MOS (78 BU) but higher than that of MAS (40 BU). Differential scanning calorimetry studies of gelatinisation and retrogradation revealed that chemical modification reduced the onset temperature (To), peak temperature (Tp) and conclusion temperature (Tc). Oxidation and acetylation reduced the gelatinisation and retrogradation enthalpies of the native starch. The enthalpy of retrogradation of the starches increased as the length of storage increased.