Production improvement of Kabuli chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) protein hydrolysates through ultrasonic pre-treatment approach: Impact on techno-functional properties and antioxidant activity

Chickpea protein hydrolysis often suffers from low yield and enzyme efficiency, lengthy processing times, and high costs, resulting in peptides that are unable to achieve superior techno-functional properties and antioxidant activity. This study investigated the impact of ultrasonic pre-treatment on enhancing the techno-functional properties and antioxidant activity of Kabuli chickpea protein hydrolysate. The prepared chickpea protein hydrolysate (CPH) was ultrasonic (20 kHz, 50% amplitude, 50°C, 10s, 2s on/off time, and 15 mins) and treated (UCPH). Results show that the UCPH was significantly higher in protein (80%), moisture (4.37%), and ash (7.83%) than untreated ultrasonic pretreatment (CPH). The UCPH also improved the yield (55.41%), degree of hydrolysis (DH) (70.63%), solubility (83.98 to 100%), and antioxidant activity (DPPH: 61.38%, HRSA: 64.46 %, ferrous ion chelating: 60.67%). Nevertheless, no notable distinctions were observed in the amino acid (AA) composition between UCPH and CPH. In addition, FTIR results revealed slight differences in secondary structure when comparing UCPH and CPH. These results suggest that ultrasonic treatment could significantly enhance chickpea protein's techno-functional properties and antioxidant activity, which is helpful for application in nutraceuticals and the food industry, such as functional food ingredients, cosmeceuticals, nutraceuticals and therapeutics, animal feed and pet nutrition, and sustainable protein alternatives.