Assessment of the mineral composition and vitamin content of blends of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) and pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan L.) flours

Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate the mineral composition and vitamin content of sorghum and pigeon pea composite flours. Flours were produced from sorghum and pigeon pea seeds. The composite flours were mixed homogenously. Six different blends were formulated in the following ratios as 100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40 and 50:50 of sorghum and pigeon pea flours respectively, where 100% sorghum flour served as control. The mineral and vitamin composition of the blends were determined using standard methods. The mineral composition result showed significant (p<0.05) increase in potassium (315.10 – 635.0 mg/100 g), magnesium (90.01- 94.52 mg/100 g), calcium (20.10 – 52.11 mg/100 g), zinc (2.03 – 2.30 mg/100 g), iron (3.01 – 5.10 mg/100 g) and sodium (4.80 – 7.82 mg/100 g), and significant (p<0.05) reduction in phosphorus (300.20 - 264.15 mg/100 g), with the increased supplementation of pigeon pea flour to sorghum flour in the blends. The vitamin content result recorded significant (p<0.05) increase in niacin (2.60-2.91 mg/100 g), riboflavin (0.07-0.13 mg/100 g), thiamin (0.31-0.43 mg/100 g), ascorbic acid (29.31-34.56 mg/100 g), and decrease in pyridoxine (0.40-0.21 mg/100 g) and alpha-tocopherol (0.61-0.26 mg/100 g), with increased level of inclusion of pigeon pea flour to the blends. This study showed that supplementing sorghum flour with pigeon pea flour produced blends with improved micronutrients which can find use in ameliorating the prevalence of micronutrients deficiencies in developing countries.

Chemical composition and sensory characteristics of fermented condiments produced from soybean, bambara nut and pigeon pea seeds blends

“…According to Sharma et al (2011), pigeon pea is a good source of protein for the poor communities in many tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. It is also rich in dietary fibre, minerals and vitamins (Nwanekezi et al, 2017;Arukwe & Nwanekezi, 2022).…”