I would like to know the importance of water solubility index and water absorption index in extruded food products.
WAI and WSI can be well corelated with the degree of starch gelatinization occured during extrusion. Number of research articles are available on different cereals extrusion and their extruded products characteristics.
Both parameters are index of water hydration capability of the processed starch based food. Sometime incorporation of fiber enhanced water hydration and we also compare the effect of fiber on extruded products by those parameters. Thermal processing does effect on hydration property too. In a nutshell, it is a quality index of a particular product.
It depends on the extrudate properties one expects. WAI will be more if starch gelatinization is high. It will not be desirable to have WAI more when we want to store the extrudates. If extrudates absorbs more water, it will be susceptible to microbial attack. If WSI high, it will help in digestion. For aqua feed production it is desirable to have more WSI.
The WAI and WSI characterize the interaction of the extruded product with water, and are often important indicators that affect subsequent processing of feed (drying, storage, etc..) They also measure the degree of conversion and transformation of starch during the extrusion process. The WAI index can be used to determine the degree of gelatinization, since native starch does not absorb water at room temperature .
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