Notes for FTC 3020: CEREALS, PULSES AND OIL SEED TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO CEREAL GRAINS, LEGUMES AND OILSEEDS

1. Introduction
Cereals are plants which yield edible grains and includes rice, wheat, corn, barley, and oats.
Cereal grains are the fruit of plants belonging to the grass family (Gramineae). Cereal grains
provide the world with majority of its food calories and about half of its protein.

They are also good source of micronutrients such as calcium, iron and vitamins of group B.
Cereals are staples and are consumed in large quantities by majority of population in the
world either directly or in modified form as major items of diet such as flour, bran and
numerous additional ingredients used in the manufacture of other foods.

Asia, America, and Europe produce more than 80 percent of the world’s cereal grains.
Cereals are easy to store because of low moisture content, easy to handle and providing
variety to the diet. The principle cereal grains grown in India are wheat, rice, corn, sorghum
and barley.

Legumes are next to cereals as an important source of proteins. They are flowering plants
having pods which contain bean or peas. There are basically two groups of legumes.

 First is high-protein high-oil group like soybean, groundnut, lupine, etc. which are
mainly used for processing and contains high protein (~ 35%) and oil content (15 -
45%).
 The second group comprises the moderate- protein low-oil types like cowpea, gram,
pea, lentil etc. India is one of the largest pulse growing countries in the World.
Different pulses grown in India are chickpea (bengal gram/chana), pigeon pea
(tur/arhar), green gram (moong), black gram (urad), lentils (masur).

Oilseeds have become an increasingly important agriculture commodity, with a steady

increase in annual production worldwide. Oilseeds are seeds which contain high oil content
and are widely grown as a source of edible oil. Major oilseeds grown in India are groundnut,
cottonseed, mustard, rapeseed, soybean, sunflower and sesame seed. The coconut (copra) is
also an important oilseed.

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 Notes for FTC 3020: CEREALS, PULSES AND OIL SEED TECHNOLOGY

Cereal grains are not only low in protein but also deficient in certain essential amino acids,
especially lysine. Legumes as well as many oilseeds are rich in lysine, though relatively poor
in methionine.
2. Cereal Grains

Rice

Rice (Oryza sativa, Linn.) crop originated in Asia and has been a staple food there since the
Ice Age in the North. The geographical site of original rice domestication is yet not sure. But
according to a general consensus, domestication occurred at three places – India, Indonesia
and China – thereby giving rise to three races of rice – Indica, Javonica and Sinica (also
known as Japonica), respectively. Actual rice grains and husk have been excavated in India
that were more than 4500 years old and in China more than 5000 years. According to ancient
Greek writers, rice penetrated Europe around 3000 B.C., having been brought from India by
Alexander the Great.
Wheat

Historic documents confirm that wheat (Triticum aestivum, Triticum durum) is the earliest
field crop used for human food processing. The cultivation of wheat reaches far back into
history as it was predominat source of food for Human. The precise origin of the wheat
cultivation is unclear, but it is thought that man has been cultivating and processing the wheat
for at least 12,000 – 17,000 years.
Corn

Corn or Maize (Zea mays, L) is native to the America. Corn originated in Mexico, evolving
from the wild grass Teosinte. Archaeological evidence suggests that corn was domesticated
and grown as early as 5000 B.C. in Mexico. Following Columbus’s discovery of America,
corn was transplanted to Spain from where it quickly spread across Europe, Africa and Asia.

Barley

Barley (Hardeum vulgare L.) is among the most ancient of the cereal crops. The original area
of cultivation has been reported to be in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, in present
day Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. There is now considerable evidence that barley was
under cultivation in India and China considerably later then in Middle East. Barley played an
important role in ancient Greek culture as a staple bread–making grain, as well as an
important food for athletes, who attributed much of their strength to their barley–containing

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training diets. Gladiators were known as hordearii, which means “eaters of barley”. In almost
every culture through the ages, barley foods are described as having almost mystical
properties, and barley is often referred to as the “king of grains”.

3. Structure of Cereal Grains

Cereal grains are the fruit of plants belonging to the grass family (Gramineae). Botanically,
cereal grains are a ‘dry’ fruit called a caryopsis (Fig. 1).
The caryopsis fruit has a thin, dry wall which is fused together with the seed coat. Kernel
structure is important with respect to minimizing damage during grain harvest, drying,
handling, storage, milling, and germination and in enhancing nutritional value. There are a
few important structural features that the cereal grains have in common. All of the cereal
grains are plant seeds and contain three distinct anatomical portions – a large centrally
located starch endosperm, which also is rich in protein, protective outer layers such as hull
and bran, and an embryo or germ.
The seed portion of cereals consists of numerous components which basically include three
parts: a seed coat or testa (bran), storage organ or nutritive reserve for the seed (endosperm),
and a miniature plant or germ. The fruit tissue consists of a layer of epidermis and several
thin inner layers a few cells thick. The aleurone layer which is just below the seed coat, is
only a few cells thick, but is rich in oil, minerals, protein and vitamins.
Starch and protein are located in the endosperm which represents the bulk of the grain and is
sometimes the only part of the cereal consumed. Starch is arranged in the form of sub-cellular
structures called granules that are embedded in a matrix of protein. The developing
endosperm contains protein bodies which become a continuous phase as the grain matures.
The diameter, shape, size distribution and other characteristics of starch granules vary with
different cereals. Starch granules range in size from 3-8 μm in rice; 2-30 μm in corn, and 2-55
μm in wheat. Reserve proteins in the endosperm are in the form of smaller ‘protein bodies’
that range in size from 2-6 μm that become disordered and adhere to the starch granules in the
mature grain of species like wheat.

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Wheat

Rice

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Corn

Barley

Fig. 1 Structure of Cereal Grains

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 Notes for FTC 3020: CEREALS, PULSES AND OIL SEED TECHNOLOGY

4. Chemical composition of cereal grains

Cereals are of plant origin which yield edible grains which are consumed directly or in
modified form as major part of diet and also feed to livestock. Rice and wheat are most
important cereals forming part of human food. The major constituents of the principal cereals
are listed in Table 1. Cereal grains consist of about two third carbohydrates, mainly in form
of digestible sugars and starches. These grains are also an important source of several other
nutrients such as protein, calcium, iron, vitamin B complex and dietary fiber. Cereal grains
contain 10-14% moisture, 58-72% carbohydrate, 8-13% protein, 2-5% fat and 2-11%
indigestible fiber. They also provide about 300-350 kcal/100 g of grains. Cereals are deficient
in vitamins A, D, B12 and C.
Table 1 Proximate Compositions of Cereal Grains

5. Structure of Legumes
The term ‘pulses’ is limited to crops harvested solely for dry grain, thereby excluding crops
harvested green for food mainly as vegetables (peas, beans, etc.), crops used mainly for oil
extraction (e. g. soybean and groundnut) and leguminous crops for sowing purpose (e.g.
seeds of clover and alfalfa). A legume is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or
a fruit of these specific plants. A legume fruit is a simple dry fruit that develops from a
simple carpel and usually dehisces (opens along a seam) on two sides. A common name for
this type of fruit is a pod. Well-known legumes include peas, beans, lentils, black gram, green
gram, soy and groundnut.

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Pulses all have a similar structure, but differ in color, shape, size, and thickness of the seed
coat. Mature seeds have three major components: the seed coat, the cotyledons, and the
embryo (Fig. 2).
The seed coat or hull accounts for 7–15% of the whole seed mass. Cotyledons are about 85%
of the seed mass, and the embryo constitutes the remaining 1–4%. The external structures of
the seed are the testa (i.e., seed coat), hilum, micropyle, and raphe. The testa is the outer most
part of the seed and covers almost all of the seed surface. The hilum is an oval scar on the
seed coat where the seed was attached to the stalk. The micropyle is a small opening in the
seed coat next to the hilum. The raphe is a ridge on the side of the hilum opposite the
micropyle.
When the seed coat is removed from grain, the remaining part is the embryonic structure. The
embryonic structure consists of two cotyledons (or seed leaves) and a short axis above and
below them. The two cotyledons are not physically attached to each other except at the axis
and a weak protection provided by the seed coat. Thus, the seed is unusually vulnerable to
breakage.
The outermost layer of the seed coat is the cuticle, and it can be smooth or rough. Both the
micropyle and hilum have been related to the permeability of the testa and to water
absorption.

Fig. 2 Structure of pulse

6. Composition of Pulses
Pulses contain carbohydrates, mainly starches (55-65 percent of the total weight); proteins,
including essential amino acids (18-25 percent, and much higher than cereals); and fat (1 - 4

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percent). The remainder consists of moisture, fiber, minerals and vitamins. The composition
of protein, fat, minerals, fibre, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins etc of different pulses is
given in Table 2.

Table 2 Proximate composition of pulses (Per 100 g edible portion)

7. Structure of Oilseeds
Oil seeds are mainly used for extraction of edible oil. Oilseeds crops grown in India are
groundnut, rapeseed, mustard, soybean, sunflower, sesame, castor, safflower, niger and
linseed. Oilseeds are made up of three basic parts: the seed coat, the embryo, and one or more
food storage structures. The seed contains two pieces of cotyledons that function as food
reserve structures. The seed coat is marked with a hilum or seed scar. The basic function of
the coat is to protect the embryo from fungi and bacterial infection.
Unlike seeds of grass family (e. g. wheat, rice, etc.), where oil is concentrated in a germ that
lies along the side of the endosperm, the entire hull of oilseeds is the germ. It typically
consists of a rootlet (hypocotyl) and two cotyledons’ leaves (Fig. 3) that are pushed above the

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soil and unfold during the germination. Oil in oilseed is distributed in spheresomes
throughout the germ cells.
Recovery of oil from oilseeds is facilitated by rupturing the cell walls by heat and pressure
during flaking, and by optional extrusion, followed by pressing or solvent extraction. Waxes
from the pericarp (hull), which protect the seed against drying are often also solubilized by
the solvent or oil.

Fig. 3 Structure of oilseed

8. Composition of Oilseeds

Table 3 Proximate composition of whole oilseeds (%)

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