Nutritional properties of fonio starch-defatted moringa seed flour blends prepared at different ratios

Sa？etak Fonio starch was enriched with defatted moringa seed flour with the objective of determining the best blend that would give good quality attributes. A Central Composite Rotatable Design (CCRD) from the Response Surface Methodology was used for the process optimization. The independent variables were the proportions of the fonio starch powder (70-100 g) and the Defatted moringa seed flour (0-30 g) , while the responses were protein, moisture, crude fibre, fat, ash, vitamin C, riboflavin, thiamine, calcium, phosphorous, iron, potassium, sodium and overall acceptability. Data obtained from the study were analysed using ANOVA. The protein, moisture, crude fibre, fat, ash, vitamin C, riboflavin, thiamine, calcium, phosphorous, iron, potassium, sodium and overall acceptability ranged between 9.50-17.70%, 5.70-13.10% , 2.34-2.67% , 1.22-1.58% , 64.0-129.0%, 30.4-46.1 mg/100 g, 26.0-27.0 mg/100 g, 88.49-190.46 mg/100 g, 168.4-282.08 mg/100 g, 19.11-28.25 mg/100 g, 455.0-224.01 mg/100 g, 120.5-150.36 mg/100 g and 5.1-7.4 mg/100 g, respectively. The combined effect of the blends ratios significantly influenced all responses (p<0.05). High coefficient of determination R2 (60-99%) indicated that the models had good fits. The best blend was 73.11 g (87.97%) fonio starch and 10 g (12.03%) of defatted moringa seed flour, which gave good quality, attributes