Influence of Moisture Content on Physicomechanical Properties, Starch-Protein Microstructure and Fractal Parameter of Oat Groats

This study was performed to investigate the influence of moisture content on physicomechanical properties, starch-protein microstructure and fractal parameter of oat groats. Selected physical properties were determined as a function of moisture content. The results showed that moisture content had a significant effect on these characteristics. Majority of physical properties increased linearly with moisture content ranged from 11.8% to 27.0%, while mechanical properties decreased nonlinearly as third power function in the above range. More-over, the increasing granule size, less gaps and more contact points can be observed in the microstructure of starch-protein network with high moisture. Meanwhile, high moisture content also resulted in that fractal parameter of oat section increased from 2.6891 to 2.8001 significantly. These moisture-dependent characteristics are useful in further study of oat groats and the heuristic methods used in this study may be extrapolated to other varieties of cereal.