Kadal flour is a
fermented grain flour that is produced by naturally fermenting grains in water,
washing, drying, milling, and sieving. This study evaluated the effect of
natural fermentation and fermented Bambara groundnut supplementation on the
nutritional quality of kadal flour produced from whole and decorticated millet
grains. Millet and Bambara groundnut were fermented for 72 h, processed into
flour, and blended at millet-to-Bambara groundnut ratios of 80:20, 70:30, and
60:40, for both whole millet and Bambara groundnut and decorticated millet and
Bambara groundnut kadal flour blends, with control samples composed of 100%
whole and 100% decorticated millet kadal flours, respectively. Proximate
composition, energy value, amino acid profile, and vitamins B1 and B9
were determined using standard methods. Fermentation increased moisture and
fibre contents but reduced protein, ash, carbohydrate, energy value, and as
well as most of the essential and non-essential amino acids, with significant
decrease in decorticated millet kadal flour. However, the fermentation process
resulted to increase in phenylalanine, threonine, and tyrosine contents.
Supplementation with fermented Bambara groundnut flour significantly improved
protein, fat, ash, fibre, carbohydrate, energy values, amino acid contents, and
vitamins B1 and B9, with higher inclusion levels
producing greater increases. Whole millet–Bambara groundnut kadal flour blends
had higher contents than their decorticated grain counterparts. The sample with
60% whole millet and 40% whole Bambara groundnut) recorded the highest nutrient
contents and energy value of 380.11 kcal/100 g. It was concluded that
production of kadal flour from blends of whole millet and Bambara groundnut
could help in reducing the problem of malnutrition particularly in sub-Saharan
Africa. Moreover, decortication of grains destined for kadal flour processing
is not recommended as it leads to greater loss in nutrients.
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