Abstract: The purpose of the present study was to optimize alkali protein extraction from defatted chickpea using one-factor-at-a-a-time method and response surface methodology. The results showed that all investigated parameters had a notable effect on the extraction yield of chicken protein and could be ranked in decreasing order of importance in their effects as follows: pH ＞liquid-to-material ratio＞extraction time. The optimal extraction parameters were pH 11.0 and 17.7:1 (mL/g) of liquid-to-material ratio for 88.4 min of extraction at 20 ℃, resulting in an extraction yield of 82.33%. The established regression model describing the extraction yield of chicken protein as a function of three extraction parameters was highly significant (R2＝0.9630). The predictive and experimental results were found to be in good agreement. Thus, the model was applicable for the prediction of protein yield.

Key words: chickpea protein, process parameters, response surface optimization