Chemical and Nutritional Evaluation of Complementary Food from Blends of Quality Protein Maize and Conophor nuts (Tetracarpidium conophorum)

Abstract

Complementary food was formulated from Quality protein Maize (QPM) and Conophor Nuts (Tetracarpidum conophorum). The effectiveness of the blend in meeting nutritional requirement in complementary diet was investigated. Proximate composition of the samples were evaluated which include crude protein, fat, moisture content, crude fibre and ash. Rat feeding method was used for nutritional quality determination. Compounded experimental and control diet were fed to albino rats for 28 days. The results observed in this study revealed that blend of Quality protein maize and conophor nut produced good complementary food with an increase in protein content. Protein content of formulated diet was 17.69% compared to 9.0% of the Quality protein maize. Evaluation of protein quality revealed that the formulated diet compared favourably with casein diet at 10% iso nitrogenous protein level. The formulated diet has high protein quality that can support the growth of infants in developing countries. The diet microbial quality is within acceptable level.