Biological Value And True Digestibility Of Cowpea - Cocoyam Extruded Snacks:- Ahumibe, Chidinma E

ABSTRACT

Extruded snacks were produced from blends of cowpea and cocoyam. Proximate analysis, functional properties, anti-nutrient analysis and sensory evaluation were carried out. Biological value and True digestibility were also carried out. The snacks was formulated at · different ratios of cowpea and cocoyam: 90:10, 70:30, 60:40, a positive control diet of 90:10 corn starch:protein and a negative diet of 100:0 corn starch;protein. The result of the proximate analysis was 9.98% to 10.21% (moisture), 3.03% to 16.51% (crude protein), 32.82% to 33.36% (fat), 1.12% to 3.19% (crude fibre), 0.85% to 3.87% (ash content) and 32.89% to 52.23% (carbohydrate). The result for functional properties was 0.32g/cm' to 0.40g/cm3 (bulk density), 4.1 7g/g to 4.33g/g (water absorption capacity), 3.01g/g to 3.19g/g (oil absorption capacity), 1.12g/g to 1.57g/g (swelling index), and 86.67C to 97.33C (gelatinization temperature). The anti-nutrient analysis was 0.0 to 0.49 (oxalate), 0.0 to 0.33 (phytate), 0.0 to 2.49mg/kg (hydrogen cyanide), and 0.0 to 1.91 (trypsin inhibitor). Overall, the biological value of the formulated diet was 98.22 to 98.98.39 were significantly higher than the control samples which was from 0.00 for the negative diet to 80.69 for the positive diet for the experimental animals which indicated that the protein content of the proteiri diet may adequately provide the necessary protein requirements to support growth and development in both infants and adults. The True digestibility ranged from 87.31% to 91.31% for the formulated diets and 54.59% for the negative diet and 68.15% for the positive diet. which shows that all the formulated diet could be digested and absorbed due to the quality of their essential amino acids.