Preparation and Characterization of Protein Isolate from Cowpea ( Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.)

Protein isolate (PI) was prepared from 3 cowpea varieties and 2 soybean varieties in each of 2 y. The protein contents of cowpea PI (CPI) (91.4% to 91.8%) and soy PI (SPI) (93.0% to 93.5%) were significantly different ( P < 0.05). Electrophoretogram showed that CPI was concentrated at 60 and 40 kDa, whereas SPI showed bands at 95, 65, 60, 40, and 35 kDa. The CPI had higher lysine (49.3 to 51.8 mg/g) than SPI (41.9 to 43.4 mg/g). The CPI and SPI had surface hydrophobicities ranging from 387.8 to 572.9 and 640.6 to 643.1, respectively. Denaturation temperature (85.2 to 88.4 °C) and enthalpy (8.42 to 10.33 J/g) of CPI were similar to the 7S fraction of SPI (82.6 °C and 96.0 to 96.3 J/g). These characteristics of CPI might be useful to explain its functionalities for application in food systems.