How Does Mechanical Pearling Affect Quinoa Nutrients and Saponin Contents?

Agriculture is facing many challenges, such as climate change, drought, and salinity, which call for urgent interventions for fast adaptation and crop diversification. The introduction of high-value and stress tolerant crops such as quinoa would be a judicious solution to overcome constraints related to abiotic stress and to increase land productivity and farmers’ incomes. The implementation of quinoa in Morocco has not been supported by a full valorization program to control the quality of quinoa seeds. The novelty of this work is to assess the pearling operation as an efficient method of saponins removal as well as the determination of total residual saponins. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of several pearling durations on nutrient and saponin content of quinoa seeds of three tested varieties (Puno, Titicaca, and ICBA-Q5). Five pearling durations were tested (0, 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8 min) using a locally manufactured pearling machine. The results indicated that a pearling duration of two minutes was enough to reduce total saponin content from 0.49% to 0.09% for Puno variety, from 0.37% to 0.07% for Titicaca variety, and from 0.57% to 0.1% for ICBA-Q5 variety. Our results showed that pearling slightly reduced protein, total fat, and moisture contents for all varieties except for Puno, where total fat content slightly increased with the pearling. Puno variety had the highest seed content in terms of protein and total fat: the ICBA-Q5 variety had the lowest. Titicaca had the highest bran content in terms of protein and total fat, ICBA-Q5 had the highest bran content in terms of ash and the lowest bran content in terms of protein and total fat, and Puno had the lowest bran content in terms of ash. Pearling had no significant effect on macronutrient contents in the processed seed, but it resulted in a very highly significant difference for most of them in the bran except for Mg and S. Regarding seed content in terms of micro-nutrients, statistical analysis showed significant differences between varieties in terms of Zn, Cu, and Mn contents, but no significant difference was recorded for Fe or B. Pearling had no significant effect on seed micronutrient contents. Therefore, to retain maximum nutritional content in the quinoa and maintain quinoa integrity, it is necessary to limit the pearling duration of quinoa to two minutes, which is enough to reduce saponin content below the Codex Standard threshold (0.12%).