Multi-pin cold plasma treatment of chia (Salvia hispanica L.) seeds: nutritional & anti-nutritional, techno-functional, and structural properties

Abstract

The present study focused on multi-pin cold plasma treatment (CPT, voltage- 10, 20, and 30 kV, time- 10, 20, and 30 min) to investigate the nutritional, antinutritional, techno-functional, and structural properties of chia seed flour (Salvia hispanica L.). CPT significantly (p ≤ 0.05) enhanced the protein content (22.84 to 24.63%), water absorption capacity (9.17 to 12.16 g g⁻¹), oil absorption capacity (0.74 to 1.53 g g⁻¹), swelling power (9.17 to 12.16 g g⁻¹), in vitro protein digestibility (65.92 to 72.68%) and improved pasting and thermal stability of chia seed flour. It reduced the amount of anti-nutritional compounds, i.e., tannins (3.48 to 2.88 mg TAE per g) and phytates (2.15 to 1.53 mg PAE per g), resulting in improved in vitro digestibility and mineral content. FTIR spectra suggested potential modification of functional groups, while XRD analysis indicated reduced crystallinity with increasing voltage and time. The SEM images revealed surface disruption with increased porosity in plasma-treated samples. Principal component analysis displayed a favourable correlation between moderate plasma exposure (20 kV) and durations (10–20 min) with enhanced chia seed flour properties. CPT proves to be an effective non-thermal technology for improving the nutritional and techno-functional properties of chia seed flour, which could potentially enhance its diverse applications in food and nutraceutical formulations.