Proximate, mineral, amino acid and fatty acid compositions of maize tuwo-cirina forda flour blends.

Abstract

The proximate, mineral, amino acid and fatty acid compositions of maize tuwocirina forda flour blends in the ratio 90:10, 80:20, 70:30 and 100:0w/w were investigated using standard method processing technique. Data obtained indicated that addition of cirina forda flour to maize tuwo flour increased the protein content at all level of addition (7.56±0.02-35.06±0.01%) and fat content (3.45±0.01-8.79±0.01%) of the blends respectively, while the carbohydrate content of the blend was significantly lower to that of the control sample (MCF4). Addition of cirina forda to maize tuwo flour also increased the mineral compositions of the blends where the most abundant mineral element was Sodium (17.86±0.0123.17±0.02mg/100g) and Phosphorus (0.01mg/100g) being the least mineral element. There was a significant increase (p<0.05) in the amino acid compositions of the flour blends with glutamic acid (1.67±0.01-2.17±0.02mg/100 crude protein) having the highest and tryptophan (0.14±0.01-0.17±0.01mg/100g crude protein) the least. The most abundant fatty acid of the blends was palmitic acid (16.29±0.02-26.35±0.02%) while the least fatty acid was behenic acid (1.53±0.012.14±0.01%). The findings in this study therefore confirms the endless possibilities of protein enrichment of maize tuwo with cirina forda flour blends for the production of complementary food as a potentially effective strategy for enhancing the protein energy balance, particularly in developing countries.