Modelling folates reaction kinetics during cowpea seed germination in comparison with soaking

•The model describes folate behaviour during cowpea germination process at 30 °C.•Up to 14 h of germination, all folate vitamers are converted into 5-CH3-H4folate.•This interconversion is in the same order of magnitude as for regular soaking.•Beyond a germination time of 48 h, folates are highly produced.•Germination (water-to-seed ratio 1:1) could be a good alternative to enrich cowpea. Folate is a fundamental vitamin for metabolism in plants and humans. A modelling approach has been developed to characterize the reactivity of folates in cowpea seeds during germination at 30 °C, using a water-to-seed ratio of 1:1 (w/w). For this purpose, the concentrations of folic acid, 10-formylfolic acid, 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, 5-formyltetrahydrofolate and tetrahydrofolate were determined in seeds during germination times up to 96 h. Two reaction models were sequentially built and adjusted to experimental data to describe changes in concentration in cowpea seed during two germination phases: before 14 h and after 48 h. Results showed intense enzymatic interconversion of all folate vitamers into 5-methyltetrahydrofolate before 14 h of germination and high enzymatic production of 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, 5-formyltetrahydrofolate and tetrahydrofolate after 48 h of germination. This study suggests that a long germination process could be more beneficial than soaking to increase the production of bioavailable folates within the seed for human consumption.