Effect of Processing Method of Millet on Proximate Composition and Sensory Evaluation of Complementary Food Produced from Blends of Millet, Cowpea and Unripe Plantain Flours

A.N. Nwosu, E.N. Aniagor, E.E. Emojorho and J.C. Ani

Objective: This research aimed to produce nutritionally dense supplementary food from millet, cowpea, and unripe plantains. Materials and Methods: Complementary foods were produced from blends of millet, cowpea and unripe plantain. Millet was processed using fermentation, germination and roasting methods, to obtain flours. The blends were formulated and designated as MCF_a (70% untreated millet flour, 20% cowpea flour and unripe plantain flour 10%), MCF_b (70% fermented millet flour, 20% cowpea flour and unripe plantain flour 10%), MCF_c (70% germinated millet flour, 20% cowpea flour and unripe plantain flour 10%) and MCF_d (70% roasted millet flour, 20% cowpea flour and unripe plantain flour 10%). The flour samples were subjected to proximate analysis. The gruel obtained was subjected to sensory evaluation using standard methods. A completely randomized design (CRD) was used for the experiment. Data was subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: Proximate composition showed that there were no significant (p>0.05) differences in protein, fat and ash contents. The Crude fibre, moisture, carbohydrate and Calorific values were determined. Samples were significantly (p<0.05) different from each other. Sensory scores showed that the samples were acceptable to the panelists and there were significant (p<0.05) differences between samples in all accessed parameters. Conclusion: Fermentation and germination are the best methods for processing of millet for complementary foods, but fermentation recorded greater potentials. Addition of cowpea improved the protein-energy balance. Panelists recorded preference for the fermented sample (MCF_b) over other samples.

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