Effects of cold plasma treatment on the quality of wheat flour enriched in aleurone layer

aTo improve the processing properties of aleurone‑enriched wheat flour, this study investigated the effects of cold plasma treatment and aleurone flour addition ratio on the rheological characteristics of aleurone‑enriched wheat flour. In this study, aleurone layer powder peeled from wheat grains was used as the raw material and treated with cold plasma (CP) using air as the medium under the following conditions: pressure of 140 Pa, radio frequency power of 240 W, and treatment time of 180 s. Untreated and CP-treated aleurone layer powder were incorporated into wheat flour at different proportions (0:100、5:95、10:90、15:85、20:80) to investigate the effects of addition level and modification method on the processing quality and rheological properties of aleurone-enriched wheat flour. The results showed that the addition of aleurone layer powder disrupted the gluten network, reduced the stability of the secondary structure, increased dough development time, and decreased dough stability time, thereby impairing processing properties. In contrast, the incorporation of CP-treated aleurone layer powder significantly mitigated these adverse effects: solvent retention capacity was comprehensively enhanced, the content of tightly bound water increased by 25.21%, and gelatinization enthalpy rose from 7.09 J/g to 7.51 J/g. Additionally, a portion of the β-turn and random coil structures was converted into α-helix and β-sheet structures, leading to improved secondary structure stability and a more continuous gluten network. Furthermore, peak viscosity, trough viscosity, and final viscosity increased by 11.35%, 10.32%, and 0.99%, respectively, compared with the untreated group; dough stability time extended from 7.56 min to 7.94 min, breaking distance increased by 12.74%, and both storage modulus and loss modulus were enhanced. In conclusion, cold plasma treatment effectively alleviates the negative impact of aleurone layer powder on the processing quality of aleurone-enriched wheat flour, providing a theoretical basis for the high-value utilization of aleurone layer powder and the application of cold plasma in flour product processing.