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Peleg's equation was used to model moisture sorption in soybean, cowpea and peanuts at 2°C 25°C and 40°C. Peleg K, varied with temperature while Peleg K2 was not relatively affected. Peleg Kz could be used as a water absorption parameter. The lower the K2 value, the more water was absorbed. Values of K, and K2 were predicted for each of the cultivars of the legumes studied. There was no significant (P>O.O5) difference in either Kr or Kz value for both the dehulled and undehulled peanuts. Peleg equation with the predicted constants gave fairly good fit for water absorption in the legumes.

The potential of glucometry in in-vitro starch digestion was investigated for developing a rapid procedure to understand kinetics of digestion. A hand-held glucometer, intended for testing of plasma glucose levels, was used for the assay of glucose released by the combined action of a-amylase and amyloglucosidase on a range of starch substrates. The glucometer was sensitive to glucose concentrations in water, and its readings were independent of pH (7.7 and 3.9) and temperature (377C and 257C) of the glucose solution, but dependent on lactose and maltose concentrations. Neither fructose nor sucrose affected the readings. Digested starch calculated from the glucometer was not significantly (p . 0.05) different from that calculated from spectrophotometry. Particle size of substrate, sample formulation, grain genotype, and processing affected the glucometer readings as expected from how these factors influence starch digestibility. Corrections are required when samples containing lactose and maltose prior to in-vitro digestion analysis are studied. The developed rapid procedure can be used to collect large numbers of data points per sample per analysis for better understanding the kinetics of starch digestion, and increased confidence level in modelling the digestogram. The glucose detection method is robust and could be adapted for non-laboratory use. Single-point data can also be extracted from digestograms for comparative analysis.