ABSTRACT

This study investigated the enrichment ofsoybean powder with tigemut and date flours at different proportions. Composite flour produced from soybean, tigernut and date was formulated in different proportions; 95:0:5 (610), 0:95:5 (620), 80:15:5 (630), 79:25:5 (640) and 60:35:5 (650) to obtain enriched soybean flours. The enriched flours were subjected to functional analysis, proximate composition, mineral contents, and antioxidant analysis using standard methods. Experimental data were subjected to statistical analysis at 95% confidence interval. The functional properties of the flour samples showed that bulk density values (g/ml) ranged from 0.62 to 0.74 g/ml, water absorption capacity ranged from 2.51 to 3.02 g/ml, oil absorption capacity ranged from 1.07 to 1.82 g/ml, foam capacity ranged from 23.52 to 10.85% and swelling capacity ranged from 1.88 to 2.57%. The proximate composition ranged from 6.57 to 8.23% for moisture content, ash content ranged from 3.21% to 7.18%, fat contentranged from 15.73 to 19.75%, crude fibre content ranged from 4.04% to 5.09%, crude protein content ranged from 16.73 to 35.35%, and carbohydrate content ranged from 31.15 to 50.26%. Results of mineral content showed that, calcium (Ca) content of the soybean enriched flours ranged from 71.62 to 280.51 mg/100 g, magnesium content ranged from 7.82 mg/100 g to 251.17 mg/100 g, iron content ofthe enriched soybean flour ranged from 6.58 mg/100 g in sample 620 (95% tigemut: 5% date) to 8.94 mg/100 g, sodium content ranged from 4.36 mg/100 g to 9.33 mg/100 g, potassium content ranged from 149.39 to 251.81 mg/lOOg, and phosphorous content ranged from 16.11 to 569.64 mg/100 g. Antioxidant properties ranged from 2.23 to 4.88 pg/100 g for carotenoid, DPPH ranged from 10.85 to 15.31%, ABTS ranged from 3.98 to 16.38 mgTE/g and FRAP ranged from 6.59 to 55.18 mgGAE/g. Conclusively, enriching soybean flour with tigemut and date improved the fat content fibre content, carbohydrate content, mineral content except for phosphorous and calcium content but decreased the antioxidant activity of the enriched flours. From the findings ofthis study, it is hereby recommended that soybean flour should be enriched with 15% tigemut and 5% date