Studies on damage of starches in irradiated wheat and white pepper using Rapid Visco-Analyser (RVA)

Effect of 60Co irradiation on wheat and white pepper grains were investigated in this study using Rapid Visco Analyser (RVA), near infrared reflectance spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. Functional properties of wheat and white pepper were affected by irradiation indicated by a decrease in viscosity values. It was caused by changes of starch structure confirmed by the NIR spectra changes between wavelength 1560–1620 nm, which is the vibration of intermolecular hydrogen bonded OH groups in polysaccharides. The radiation used did not cause significant changes in the thermal properties. RVA proved to be useful for screening radiation induced changes in dry commodities of considerable large starch content on the basis of their rheological behaviour.