Mineral and amino acid profile of cowpea/soybean fortified Dabuwa (A Nigerian dried stiff porridge) produced from three different cereals

Maryam A Jarma; Gervase I Agbara; Yakaka M Alkali

Mineral and amino acid profile of cowpea/soybean fortified Dabuwa (A Nigerian dried stiff porridge) produced from three different cereals

Authors
Maryam A Jarma, Gervase I Agbara, Yakaka M Alkali

Abstract
Dabuwa, a stiff porridge of fonio grains and maize flour popular among various tribes of northeastern Nigeria especially the normadic Shuwa Arabs, was now produced from blends of fonio and pearl millet, or rice, or maize flour and each lot fortified with either cowpea or soybean flour. A 3×2×2×2 full factorial design was originally adopted for this study but later scaled down to a 3×2×2 fractional factorial which gave rise to 12 experimental runs. Legume supplementation was done at a constant level of 30%. Fonio (F) basic to dabuwa was incorporated at either 12.5% (F₁) or 22.5% (F₂). The proportions of the cereal flours in the modified dabuwa formulation were maize (Ma), millet (Mi) or rice(R) incorporated either at a level of 57.5% (Ma₁, Mi₁, R₁) or 47.5% (Ma₂, Mi₂, R₂). The control was the traditional dabuwa (25% fonio and 75% maize). All dabuwa were prepared using the traditional method. The blends and dabuwas were evaluated for mineral composition and amino acid profile. Greater enhancement of mineral elements were observed in the modified dabuwa blends than in the control, the concentrations (mg/100g) of the elements varied significantly (p<0.05) as follows: Mg 88.19-169.00, Ca 364.54-529.34, K 575.35-1189.22mg, P 254.25-429.27, Zn 1.61-4.71and Fe 3.32-6.03. A similar trend was replicated in the mineral contents of the dabuwas. K was the most dominant element (832.21 to 1396.00mg/100g), followed by calcium (585.00 to 789.89mg/100g), then phosphorus (439.67 to 708.22mg/100g). Most amino acid values of the modified dabuwa exceeded the RDA requirements by WHO/FAO/UNU. Observed values for limiting acids were: tryptophan (0.02-2.01g/100g protein), methionine + cysteine (0.72-4.62g/100g protein), lysine (4.10-5.78g/100g and threonine (2.79-4.13g/100g. Millet-containing dabuwa fortified with soybean had better amino acid profile; generally modified dabuwa had better mineral and amino acid profiles than the the traditional dabuwa. It was recommended that dabuwa should be produced from other cereals other than maize, and fortification with cowpea or soybean flour furrther enriches its nutritional value.

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