Development and Nutrient Assessment of Maize Based Food Fortified with Tiger Nut Tuber (Cyperusesculentus)

Abstract

Stunted growth and untimely death of young ones have been greatly attributed to deficiency in the nourishment of infant food in developing countries. Adequate nutrients are provided in the first six months of exclusive breastfeeding but there are problems when the baby reaches the weaning meal in infants. Mothers face rejection from infants' dearth of information on the appropriate percentage compositions of available grains. Out of many grains available as weaning foods, Tiger nut tuber is a largely unexploited, cheap fruit, eaten without any knowledge of its benefits, and has attracted little scientific and technological development in spite of its many nutritive tendencies. The utilization of tiger nut tuber in enhancing the nutrient value of the commonly used cereal grains (sorghum and maize) in Nigeria was examined. The fermented cereals were processed into flour by oven drying at (60oC); tiger nut tuber was processed into flour at (80oC). The study was carried using a percentage of 100% of sorghum and maize as control, 90:10, 80:20, 60:40 of sorghum-tiger nut flour formulation and maize-tiger nut flour formulation. Preliminary results of the proximate analysis, functional, mineral, anti-nutrients, shelf life and sensory evaluation of the compositions were determined and depicted beneficial use of sorghum flour and maize flour with the addition of tiger nut flour in the protein, fibre, ash, fat (which contributed to the flavour) mineral, shelf life and sensory evaluation. The result showed that the percentage composition of 60:40 of both maize-tiger nut flour and sorghum-tiger nut flour was more preferred in terms of the increase in nutritive value, shelf life analysis was carried out for 4 weeks, organoleptic evaluation was carried out with a 3-point scale (1- no variation, 2- slight variation, 3 pronounced / faded colour). The aroma and colour was carefully observed per week. The moisture content and pH value was within the acceptable range thereby enhancing the shelf life of the product and the highest score for overall acceptability was (8.1) and other sensory parameters evaluated. The application of tiger nut flour blend to traditional weaning foods suggest a viable option for promoting the nutritional qualities of Africa's maize and sorghum based foods for infancy as weaning food.