ABSTRACT

The study determined the nutrient composition of complementary food made from blends of germinated and ungerminated sorghum, mung beans and bonga fish. The specific objective which guided the study was to produce germinated and un-germinated sorghum; formulate complementary food from sorghum, mung beans and bonga fish; determine the nutrient composition, functional properties of the formulated diet and determine the nutritional quality of the formulated diet using experimental animal (rats). Completely randomized block design was used to carry out the study in which fifteen (15) Wistar abino rats (weaning stage) was used for the study. The result showed that germinated ungerminated samples recorded higher and significantly (P<0.05) different bulk density, water absorption capacity (WAC) with values of 0.77 g/ml and 0.71 g/ml respectively. The result for oil absorption capacity (OAC) showed that the experimental sample was significant (P<0.05) at 1.60g/ml and 1.40g/ml respectively. The result on vitamin A composition of the samples showed that germinated diet sample recorded the highest value of 248.40µg which was significantly different at (p<0.05). Control diet sample recorded the lowest value at 6.75µg which was also significantly different from the rest. The thiamin content of germinated sample with 70% of germinated sorghum recorded a higher and significant (P<0.05) value of 1.56mg, followed by the ungerminated sample with 70% of ungerminated sorghum with a thiamin content of 1.26mg. The germinated diet recording a riboflavin value of 1.56µg and ungerminated diet with 20% of Mung beans recording 1.26µg of riboflavin. Riboflavin was lower in the control diet formulated with 70% maize with a riboflavin content of 0.45µg.  The result showed that germinated diet sample with 70% of germinated sorghum recorded the highest (1.31mg) niacin content followed the ungerminated diet sample (1.16mg) with 70% of ungerminated sorghum. The result on vitamin C showed that the control diet recorded an ascorbic acid (4.60 µg) content much is lower than the experimental samples (P<0.05). The result revealed that diet made from the two blend of sorghum, mung beans and bonga fish recorded higher bulk density, oil absorption capacity, water absorption capacity, and foam capacity. However the result showed that the experimental sample recorded higher least gelation temperature. Finally the result revealed that the experiment sample was safe and made no changes on the Complementary foods developed with sorghum, mung beans and bonga fish have promising nutritional attributes. They contain reasonable quantities of most nutrients, significantly increased levels of protein, iron, calcium, and vitamins. Therefore it can be concluded that the food materials used in this study can be a good blend for production of complementary food for infants as they contained the essential nutrients in right quantities. The study therefore recommends that complementary food formulated in this study with a blend of sorghum, mung beans and bonga fish have been shown to have good nutrient content when compared to the commercial complementary food in sale and thus mothers are encouraged to engage in food formulation as it will reduce both cost and as well increase the intake of some of the micronutrients required for a healthy child growth.