Bagarinao Norma Cecille, King Jessie, Leong Sze Ying, Agyei Dominic, Sutton Kevin, Oey Indrawati
Department of Food Science, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.
Riddet Institute, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand.
Foods. 2024 May 21;13(11):1598. doi: 10.3390/foods13111598.
Plant-based foods are being increasingly favored to feed the ever-growing population, but these need to exhibit improved nutritional value in terms of protein quality and digestibility to be considered a useful alternative to animal-based foods. Germination is essential for plant growth and represents a viable method through which the protein quality of plants can be further improved. However, it will be a challenge to maintain efficient rates of germination in a changing climate when seeds are sown. In the context of the indoor germination of seeds for food, consumption, or processing purposes, a more efficient and sustainable process is desired. Therefore, novel techniques to facilitate seed germination are required. Pulsed electric fields (PEF) treatment of seeds results in the permeabilization of the cell membrane, allowing water to be taken up more quickly and triggering biochemical changes to the macromolecules in the seed during germination. Therefore, PEF could be a chemical-free approach to induce a stress response in seeds, leading to the production of secondary metabolites known to exert beneficial effects on human health. However, this application of PEF, though promising, requires further research to optimize its impact on the protein and bioactive compounds in germinating seeds.
植物性食物越来越受到青睐，以养活不断增长的人口，但这些食物需要在蛋白质质量和消化率方面展现出更高的营养价值，才能被视为动物性食物的有用替代品。发芽对植物生长至关重要，是一种可行的方法，通过它可以进一步提高植物的蛋白质质量。然而，在气候变化的情况下播种种子时，保持高效的发芽率将是一项挑战。在为了食用、消费或加工目的而进行种子室内发芽的背景下，需要一个更高效和可持续的过程。因此，需要促进种子发芽的新技术。对种子进行脉冲电场（PEF）处理会导致细胞膜通透性增加，使水分更快被吸收，并在种子发芽过程中引发种子中大分子的生化变化。因此，PEF可能是一种无化学物质的方法，可诱导种子产生应激反应，从而产生已知对人类健康有益的次生代谢产物。然而，PEF的这种应用虽然很有前景，但还需要进一步研究，以优化其对发芽种子中蛋白质和生物活性化合物的影响。
