Effects of gamma radiation in the water absorption and the cooking time on the soybean cultivars

The soybean is one of the most important legume cultivated in the world. Its high protein amount is attractive in the animal feeding and human, beyond its by-products. Although Brazil has great production of soybean, have many losses due the occurrence of alterations in the physico-chemical characteristics, resulting in product that has high resistance to cooking. Some methods can be used to minimize this effect, and the ionizing radiation with Cobalto-60 constitutes a safe and efficient method for the increase in the time of useful life of foods. Due to commercial importance of the soybean, possible alterations promoted for treatment of irradiation must be studied. The present work aimed at the evaluation of the alterations in the capacity of hydratation and the time of cooking of the varieties of soybean BRS 212, BRS 213, BRS 214, submitted 231 BRS and E48 to the doses of 2, 4 and 8 kGy of radiation gamma. The amount of water absorbed for the grains varied of 14.00 and 16.66 mL, and the time of cooking of 119.67 and 291.33 minutes. The irradiation caused increase of the hydratation speed, but not on the amount of absorbed water. The cooking time decreased with the increased of the irradiated dose. (author)