Complementary Food Product Development from Sorghum Enriched with Chickpea and Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato: The Case of Dawuro Zone, South Western Ethiopia

Abstract

One of the major problems associated with consumption of sorghum alone may result in microand macro-nutrient deficiencies that retard proper growth of Childs during complementary feeding period. The use of germinated grain composite flour can improve the micro- and macro-nutrient deficiencies. After survey on preparation of traditional complementary food (CF) in Dawuro, sorghum-based CF enriched with chickpea and orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) in different proportion was developed; and nutritional and sensory quality of the CF was investigated using standard methods. Sixteen formulations of the composite flours were prepared using D-optimal constrained mixture design with the aid of Design-Expert with a range of sorghum 40-55%, chickpea 20-35% and OFSP 10-25%. The major response variables of nutritional composition (protein, fat, carbohydrate, energy, β-carotene, iron, zinc and calcium, anti-nutritional factors (phytate and tannin), functional proprieties (bulk density, water absorption capacity and sensory quality of the product were analyzed. The result showed a significant difference (P<0.05) in fat, protein, carbohydrate, energy, calcium, phytate, tannin, Water Absorption Capacity (WAC) and sensory attributes of the CF. The protein, fat and energy contents of the CF (porridge) prepared from blending ratio of chickpea at rate of 35% has increased significantly (P<0.05). Porridge prepared from 20- 25% proportion of OFSP showed significant (P<0.05) increase in β-carotene, ash and tannin content. Significant increase was noted in phytate content in the product prepared from composite flour from blending ratio of 40-55% sorghum. The overall optimum point of the composite flour were for protein ranged from 11.91-13.73%, energy 380.37-393.08 kcal, β-carotene 422.54-670.46 µg/100 g, iron 4.28-7.65 mg/100 g, calcium 65.18-71.54 mg/100 g. The overall acceptability was received hedonic rating of 3.52-4.68 on the bases of 5 scale within the range of sorghum (40-47.5%), chickpea (30-35%) and OFSP (20-25%). Sorghum, chickpea and OFSP flour induced significant improvement in the porridge nutritional quality and sensory attributes. The result revealed that sorghum, chickpea and OFSP crops have good potential for implementing vitamin A (β-carotene), protein and energy rich complementary food. Hence, using this optimum amount of formulation can improved the nutritional composition of the sorghum based CF. Strong attention should be given to perform further work on the promot