Abstract BACKGROUND Nutritionally rich pearl millets have limited use as food owing to poor shelf life. The objective of this research was to evaluate the influence of temperature and storage duration on the structural, functional, and morphological attributes of both control and treated pearl millet grains during storage. RESULTS With increased storage duration and temperature, a substantial reduction in total phenolic, flavonoid, condensed tannin, and antioxidant activity was observed, together with an increased level of apparent amylose content and reduction of amylopectin. Viscosity decreased from 3.22 to 1.54 Pa s for the control grains and from 3.31 to 1.32 Pa s for the treated grains as storage temperature increased during storage. SEM analysis revealed a smaller, irregular, and compact granular structure for control grains, whereas treated samples had a regular and smoother structural network. Micropores on the granules could be observed during storage at 45 °C. Fourier transform spectra identified the occurrence of CH (2850–2960 cm −1 ) in pearl millet grains along with CO stretching at 1735 cm −1 and 1728–1653 cm −1 , associated with lipids during storage. The millet samples exhibited an A‐type X‐ray diffraction form with apparent crests at 15.4° and 23.23°, and a crest with feeble intensity (diffused peak) at nearly 20.34° (2 θ ; V‐type). CONCLUSION These findings provide valuable insight into underutilized crops like pearl millet for their better utilization as food and devising better storage management practice. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.
Selvan et al. (2026) studied this question.