Abstract
Food insecurity and malnutrition are the major problems facing developing countries. The aim of this research was to determine alpha-amylase activity, total reducing sugar, individual sugar and total sugar contents of masa at six hour interval during fermentation. In this study, different ratios of acha was substituted for maize in the production of soybean fortified masa to reduce its sugar content and increase the amino acid content. The result showed that α-amylase activity, total reducing sugar, total sugar and total free amino acid were within the range of 4.63 - 9.30 E.U., 13.66 - 37.58 mg glucose/g., 133.25 - 391.56 mg glucose/g and 3.92 - 12.99 mg glycine/g, respectively. Alpha-amylase activity and total reducing sugar increased with increase in maize and were highest in masa produced from 100 % maize. Sugars identified during fermentation of masa were glucose, galactose, maltose and raffinose. Substitution of maize with acha and soybean reduced the sugar contents and α-amylase activity of masa while total free amino acid increased with increase in fortification with soybean. Masa produced from 60% maize, 20% acha and 20% soybean had the highest free amino acid and lowest sugar content.
Highlights
IntroductionA fermented food in Nigeria is made from common cereal such as maize, rice and millet
Masa, a fermented food in Nigeria is made from common cereal such as maize, rice and millet
Alpha-amylases act by randomly hydrolysing α-1, 4glucan linkages in the starch polymers: amylose and amylopectin, and convert all amylose to maltose while glucose, maltose and alpha-limit dextrins are released from the breakdown of amylopectin (Helland et al, 2002)
Summary
A fermented food in Nigeria is made from common cereal such as maize, rice and millet. Acha (Digitaria exilis), an underutilized cereal of West African origin is abundant in the North-Central part of Nigeria (Philip and Itodo, 2012) and is considered to be the oldest West African cereal with cultivation dating back to 5000 BC (Haq and Ogbe, 1995; Lasekan et al, 2001) They are perhaps the world’s fastest maturing cereal, producing grains six to eight weeks after they are planted (Ibrahim, 2001). Fermentation improves absorption of nutrient especially plant product by enzymatic splitting of cellulose, hemicellulose, and related polymers that are not digestible by humans into simpler sugars and sugar derivatives (Parker, 2018). Most of these enzymes are naturally present in cereal grains but at low levels (Poutanen, 1997). The study evaluated the effect of acha substitution and soybean fortification on the sugar and amino acid contents of masa during fermentation
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