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Adilson Roberto Locali Pereira (São Paulo State University, Nantes University) a soutenu sa thèse intitulée "Resilient, sustainable, and nutritious: pigeon pea protein fractions as high-potential food ingredients" le 25 mars 2024.

Abstract

 Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) is a pulse native to emerging countries in Africa and Asia, presenting high resistance to dry environments. Its high protein content, which varies from 18 to 28%, makes it a potential pulse crop for the development of new plant-based products from alternative sources that are still little explored. However, pigeon pea production is limited to small producers. One way to expand pigeon pea production to a large scale is to better understand its proteins composition and, its functionality in food systems. In this work, pigeon pea protein fractions were obtained, characterized and evaluated for their functional properties.  The 7S globulin was the protein present in greatest abundance in pigeon pea protein fractions. This thesis proposed a protocol for the purification of  pigeon pea 7S globulin on a preparative scale, aiming the recovery of a sufficient yield for the characterization of physico-chemical and functional properties of the protein fractions. Experimental data obtained in the laboratory for different physicochemical parameters showed good agreement with values calculated from predictive studies using the sequence and amino acids composition of pigeon pea. In addition to the focus on proteins, this thesis also presents an extensive characterization of the lipid and carbohydrate fraction of pigeon pea-based ingredients, in addition to the investigation of minor compounds such as trypsin inhibitors. To evaluate functionality, the foaming properties of the protein fractions was evaluated. Pigeon pea protein fractions showed foaming properties similar to foaming agents of animal origin, such as whey protein isolate and bovine serum albumin. The results obtained in this thesis show that pigeon pea protein fractions have high-potential for application as food ingredients in the food industry.

Jury committee:

• Pedro Esteves Duarte AUGUSTO (Professor, CentraleSupélec)
• Rémi SAUREL (Professor, L’InstitutAgro)
• Guilherme Miranda TAVARES (Professor, University of Campinas)
• Miriam Dupas HUBINGER (Professor, University of Campinas)
• Bernard OFFMANN (Professor, Nantes University)
• Invited member: Véronique SOLÉ-JAMAULT (Engineer, INRAE/BIA)

• Brazilian director: Vânia Regina NICOLETTI (Professor, São Paulo State University)
• French director: Claire BERTON-CARABIN (Director of Research, INRAE/BIA)
• Co-advisor: Adeline BOIRE (Researcher Associate, INRAE/BIA)