Plant-based foods are being increasingly favored to feed the ever-growing population, but these need to exhibit improved nutritional value in terms of protein quality and digestibility to be considered a useful alternative to animal-based foods. Germination is essential for plant growth and represents a viable method through which the protein quality of plants can be further improved. However, it will be a challenge to maintain efficient rates of germination in a changing climate when seeds are sown. In the context of the indoor germination of seeds for food, consumption, or processing purposes, a more efficient and sustainable process is desired. Therefore, novel techniques to facilitate seed germination are required. Pulsed electric fields (PEF) treatment of seeds results in the permeabilization of the cell membrane, allowing water to be taken up more quickly and triggering biochemical changes to the macromolecules in the seed during germination. Therefore, PEF could be a chemical-free approach to induce a stress response in seeds, leading to the production of secondary metabolites known to exert beneficial effects on human health. However, this application of PEF, though promising, requires further research to optimize its impact on the protein and bioactive compounds in germinating seeds.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of pulsed electric fields (PEF) on the in vitro starch digestibility properties of oat flour. A wide range of PEF process intensity was investigated (electric field strength between 2.1 and 4.5 kV/cm and specific energy inputs between 52 and 438 kJ/kg using 20 μs square wave bipolar pulse at 100 Hz). The results revealed that PEF applied at a high electric field strength and energy 421 kJ/kg at any field strength intensities raised the RDS (from 15% to 19–20%), but the rate of starch digestion was not affected (maintained at 3.3–3.7 × 10⁻² min⁻¹ vs. untreated at 3.8 × 10⁻² min⁻¹). Further analysis of the structure, particle size, and thermal stability of PEF-treated oat flour through fractionation into three distinct flour segments revealed that PEF could cause major modifications in the particle size, damage and aggregation of starch granules, and destruction of the long- and short-range ordered structures of starch. Data gathered in this study indicate that PEF treatment can be a reliable strategy to modulate the in vitro starch digestibility of oat flour, either by reasonably slowing down the digestion rate or enabling a slightly higher amount of starch to be readily accessible by digestive enzymes without affecting the digestion rate.