Effect of radio frequency, ultrasound, microwave‐assisted papain, and alcalase hydrolysis on the structure, antioxidant activity, and peptidomic profile of Rosa roxburghii Tratt. seed protein

Abstract Traditional enzymatic hydrolysis methods have defects such as low efficiency and poor bioactivity in the production of active peptides. In this study, radio frequency (RF) technology was innovatively used to assist the hydrolysis of Rosa roxburghii Tratt. seed protein (RTSP) by papain and alcalase. RF‐assisted hydrolysis was compared with ultrasound‐(US) and microwave (MW)‐assisted techniques in terms of the degree of hydrolysis, structure, antioxidant properties, and changes in the peptidome of the hydrolysates to clarify the mechanism of functional change of physically‐assisted hydrolysate. All three methods improved hydrolysis efficiency. The degree of hydrolysis (DH) of papain group increased from 6.38% to 7.97%, 9.97% and 8.37% after US‐, MW‐ and RF‐assisted hydrolysis, respectively, while the DH of alcalase‐treated group increased from 21.13% to 25.66%, 26.03%, and 23.01%, respectively. The in vitro antioxidant capacity and intracellular antioxidant capacity of RTSP and its hydrolysates were measured and evaluated by fuzzy statistical evaluation, and MW‐assisted alcalase hydrolysis had the highest in vitro and intracellular antioxidant activity scores of 0.713 and 0.820, respectively. Fourier transform infrared and amino acid composition analysis explained the enhanced antioxidant properties of the hydrolysates. Further peptide profiling showed the physical assistance led to an increase in the species and contents of small molecule antioxidant peptides compared to enzyme treatment alone. Pearson's linear correlation analysis showed that AY, LY, IY, PHW, SVL, LHL, YYV, VYY, and NHAV were significantly correlated with the antioxidant properties of hydrolysates. Our data suggested that physical assistance such as US, MW, and RF were effective to improve the efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis and produce novel antioxidant peptides. Practical Application In this study, it was found that electromagnetic wave‐assisted enzymatic hydrolysis could improve the efficiency of hydrolysis and enhance the antioxidant activity of hydrolysates compared to unassisted means. Compared with MW treatment, RF has the comparable hydrolysis effect, but has the advantages of high penetration ability, good uniformity, and low energy consumption and has greater potential for the production of bioactive peptides.