Quality and sensory acceptability of yellow maize ogi porridge enriched with orange-fleshed sweet potato and African yam bean seed flours for infants

Abstract

Ogi porridge is a weaning maize meal with low nutrient density and highly limited in some macro and micro nutrients necessary for the overall development of the infants. This study investigated the effect of supplementation of yellow maize (YM) ogi porridge with orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) and African yam bean (AYB) flours on the nutrient density. The porridge was tested for physicochemical properties and sensory acceptability scores of the ogi porridge. Proportions of OFSP and/or AYB flours significantly ( p <0.05) affected the overall physicochemical properties of the ogi porridge. Increase proportion of OFSP flour up to 20% increased some quality parameters such as crude fibre (2.19–2.69%), carotenoids (160.26–205.22 µg/g), and total starch (66.8471.45%). On the other hand, crude protein (9.85–12.74%), crude fat (3.33–3.67%), ash (1.39–2.52%), Ca (130.57149.15 mg/100 g) and Fe (7.84–10.25 mg/100 g) increased significantly ( p <0.05) with increasing AYB flour substitution up to 15%. Functional properties like bulk density increased with OFSP flour addition which cause the reduction of oil and water absorption capacities, respectively. Swelling index and gelatinization temperature increased significantly ( p <0.05) with the addition of OFSP and AYB flours. Increasing proportions of OFSP flour (≤ 20%) had similar sensory acceptability scores when compared with the control (100% YM ogi porridge). Orange-fleshed sweet potato/African yam bean (OFSP/AYB) at 15% substitution contributed significant amount of energy, carbohydrates, protein, vitamin A and calcium to the infant's micro and macro nutrient requirements. These results clearly showed that supplementation of maize ogi with OFSP and AYB flours increased the nutrient density and are important for the nutrition and development of the infants.