Temperature dependent hydration kinetics of Cicer arietinum splits

This study on hydration kinetics of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) in water at different temperature was conducted to assess the adequacy of models to describe absorption phenomena during soaking. The diffusion coefficient values calculated using two different forms of Fick’s second law were all of the order of 10−9 m2/s. Peleg, Weibull and Exponential models were fitted to the soaked sample data. Adequacy of models was determined using coefficient of determination (R2), root mean square error (RMSE) and chi-square (χ2). The variation in moisture content of chickpea splits at different temperatures during hydration depicts an initial high rate of moisture absorption in the primary phase followed by slower absorption during the relaxation or secondary phase of hydration. The linearity in the curve during the initial stages of moisture absorption showed the uptake process was diffusion controlled. The results of non-linear regression analysis of fitting the models revealed that the Peleg model described the process of hydration better than did the other two models with R2 ⩾ 99.06%, RMSE ⩽ 2.95 and χ2 ⩽ 0.001 for all the fitted models. Temperature had a positive and significant effect on the water absorption capacities and absorption was an endothermic process.