Udeh Henry Okwudili, Duodu Kwaku Gyebi, Jideani Afam Israel Obiefuna
Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Agriculture University of Venda Thohoyandou South Africa.
Department of Applied Microbiology and Brewing, Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences State University of Medical and Applied Sciences Nsukka Enugu State Nigeria.
Food Sci Nutr. 2025 Mar 10;13(3):e4659. doi: 10.1002/fsn3.4659. eCollection 2025 Mar.
Food security is still a significant problem, particularly in less developed nations. Orphan crops, such as finger millet (FM), are essential for meeting dietary and nutritional needs as well as providing a means of livelihood for economies with limited resources in Asia and Africa. Comparing two varieties of FM malt beverages using sorghum grain as an external reference, the research examined the impact of fermentation time on the physicochemical characteristics and phenolic composition of the FM malt beverages. The FM grains were fermented using and the grain microflora. The beverages' pH decreased in a time-dependent manner throughout fermentation, and their sugar content increased accordingly. A reduction in the beverages' viscosities for both and the grain microflora was observed. The amount of citric acid in the beverages decreased as fermentation progressed, especially for . Catechin, epicatechin, and protocatechuic acid were the phenolics identified in the FM beverages. An increase in fermentation time was correlated with a decrease in the beverages' total phenolic content. At 96 h of fermentation, the beverages' DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP radical scavenging activities were significantly ( < 0.05) reduced for both and the grain microflora. The 24-h fermented beverages maintained higher amounts of total polyphenols and antioxidant effects. The findings indicate that FM may be utilized as a functional grain to produce nonalcoholic beverages with health benefits.
粮食安全仍然是一个重大问题，特别是在欠发达国家。诸如龙爪稷（FM）等小众作物对于满足饮食和营养需求以及为亚洲和非洲资源有限的经济体提供生计手段至关重要。该研究以高粱籽粒作为外部参照，比较了两种龙爪稷麦芽饮料，考察了发酵时间对龙爪稷麦芽饮料理化特性和酚类成分的影响。龙爪稷籽粒使用[具体发酵方式未给出]和谷物微生物区系进行发酵。在整个发酵过程中，饮料的pH值呈时间依赖性下降，其糖分含量相应增加。观察到[具体发酵方式未给出]和谷物微生物区系发酵的饮料粘度均降低。随着发酵进行，饮料中的柠檬酸含量减少，尤其是[具体发酵方式未给出]发酵的饮料。儿茶素、表儿茶素和原儿茶酸是在龙爪稷饮料中鉴定出的酚类物质。发酵时间的增加与饮料总酚含量的降低相关。在发酵96小时时，[具体发酵方式未给出]和谷物微生物区系发酵的饮料的DPPH、ABTS和FRAP自由基清除活性均显著（P < 0.05）降低。发酵24小时的饮料保持了较高的总多酚含量和抗氧化效果。研究结果表明，龙爪稷可用作功能性谷物来生产具有健康益处的非酒精饮料。
