Development and Evaluation of Weaning Foods from Pigeon Pea and Millet

Weaning foods were formulated by complementing millet with pigeon-pea after sprouting and fermentation pre-treatments. Products were evaluated for composition and functional properties. Nutritional quality was evaluated by animal feeding experiment using 36 weanling male Wister rats (45-55g). Untreated composite, commercial weaning food (Cerelac) and casein diet served as controls. Sprouted pigeon pea and sprouted millet (SPSM) composite had high crude and true proteins which compared with protein of casein diet but differed (p < 0.05) from the protein content of other diets. Calcium and iron in all formulated diets except SPSM compared with the levels in commercial diet. Viscosity was lower (p < 0.05) in formulated diets (200-209cps) than in commercial control (303cps). Fermented pigeon-pea and fermented millet (SPFM) and sprouted pigeon-pea and fermented millet (SPFM) diets gave highest (p < 0.05) weight gain (113.51g and 123.42g), PER (2.15 and 2.02), BV (70.7 and 76.2) and NPU (70.13 and 74.57), respectively thus suggesting their superiority over other diets. Diets FPSM and SPFM promoted growth better than other formulated diets.