Phytochemical, physical and functional properties of flour blends produced from wheat, unripe plantain and pigeon pea

This study investigated the phytochemical, physical and functional properties of flour blends produced from wheat, unripe plantain and pigeon pea, suitable for purposes of formulating food composition table for the flour blends by homogenously mixing wheat, pigeon pea and unripe plantain flour in the proportion of wheat flour (100%) 100:0 (WHF), wheat-pigeon pea flour 95;5:0 (WPF),wheat-unripe plantain-pigeon pea flour 85:10.5 (WPU1), wheat-unripe plantain-pigeon pea flour 75:15:10 (WPU2)and 65:20:15 (WPU3) respectively. WHF represent 100% wheat flour served as control. There was a significant difference (p<0.05) among samples of flour blends (WHF), (WPF),(WPU1), (WPU2) and (WPU3).The results obtained for proximate composition, phytochemical and functional analysis ranged: crude fiber (2.90-4.07%), protein (10.10-14.50%), moisture (5.00-10.50%), ash (0.50-0.7%), fat (2.04-3.50%), carbohydrate(67.95-79.26%), saponins (0.46-2.97 mg/100g), flavonoids (4.50-4.70 mg/100g), tannins(0.80-1.26 mg/100g) phenols (1.00-1.50 mg/100g), bulk densities (0.41-8.20g/cm3), emulsion capacity (9.20-5.20%), foaming capacity (2.90-10.60%), water absorption capacity (6.20-6.60g/g), oil absorption capacity (0.10-8.50%) and swelling capacity (25.00-29.00%) respectively. The results showed that incorporation of pigeon pea flour into wheat flour significantly (p>0.05) increased the protein, fibre and fat content of composite flour. As the ratio of wheat decreases and increase in the unripe plantain and pigeon pea, the carbohydrate content decreases significantly. WHF shows higher carbohydrate content among samples. This is evident that wheat has high carbohydrate content. Based, on the result from this study, it can be concluded that flour formulation from different four blends can improve the nutritional values of flour blends and reduce anti-nutrients drastically.