Effect of the treatment by slightly acidic electrolyzed water on the
accumulation of c-aminobutyric acid in germinated brown millet
abstract
The accumulation of c-aminobutyric acid and the microbial decontamination are concerned increasingly
in the production of sprouts. In this work, the effect of the treatment by slightly acidic electrolyzed water
on the accumulation of c-aminobutyric acid in the germinated brown millet was evaluated by high
performance liquid chromatography during germination. The results showed that slightly acidic
electrolyzed water with appropriate available chlorine (15 or 30 mg/L) could promote the accumulation
of c-aminobutyric acid by up to 21% (P < 0.05). However, the treatment with slightly acidic electrolyzed
water could not enhance the sprouts growth of the germinated brown millet. The catalase and peroxidase
activities of the germinated brown millet during germination were in agreement with the sprouts
growth. Our results suggested that the accumulation of c-aminobutyric acid was independent of the length of sprouts in germinated grains. Moreover, the treatment with slightly acidic electrolyzed water significantly reduced the microbial counts in the germinated millet (P < 0.05) and the treatment with high available chlorine concentration (15 and 30 mg/L) showed stronger anti-infection potential in the germinated brown millet than that of lower available chlorine concentration (5 mg/L). In conclusion,the treatment with slightly acidic electrolyzed water is an available approach to improve the accumulation of c-aminobutyric acid and anti-infection potential in the germinated brown millet, and it can avoid too long millet sprouts.