In Brazil, bean stands out as one of the most important food and it is found nationwide. Providing essential nutrients, it is utilized an as alternative, in substituting of meats or other proteic products, but it presents some problems like low digestibility if compared to animal proteins, which can be reduced under special storage conditions. This research aimed to evaluate the effect of storage and harvest conditions on some nutritious, physical and chemical properties of three bean cultivars. The results show that the average moisture contents were higher before storage and, after storage, the grains came into hygroscopic equilibrium with the environment in the studied cultivars. Early harvested cultivars presented higher water-absorbing capacity, which reduced during the storage period at the harvested samples. The level of phenolic compounds was higher in early harvested samples, which makes us conclude that these compounds would not be affecting the grain hydration capacity. The early harvested samples presented higher values of protein. After storage period, beans presented protein content slightly higher. The digestibility reduced during the months of storage. Reaction between proteins and phenols in processing may be associated to the low digestibility due to the negative correlation between the in vitro digestibility and tannin content present in the product.
storage; harvest; digestibility; protein; bean
