EFFECT OF PROCESSING ON THE IN VITRO PROTEIN, CARBOHYDRATE DIGESTIBILITY AND ANTINUTRITIONAL FACTORS ON DAN WAKE COMPOSITE FLOUR MADE FROM COWPEA (Triticum aestivum), BAMBARA NUT (Vigna unguculata L.), (Voandzeia subterranean L.) AND CASSAVA (Manniho

ABSTRACT The traditional food system is all food from a particular culture produced from local sources which people culturally accept. The production and evaluation of the nutritional qualities of three high energy/protein meals (‘dan wake’) formulated from blends of germinated wheat, dehulled cowpea and dehulled Bambara nut, and Fermented cassava flour were studied. The different ingredients used were, sprouted wheat, dehulled cowpea and Bambara nut, fermented cassava, baobab leaves (kuka), and potash (kanwa) were incorporated in the proportion of 70:17:4:4:3.5:1.5 for composite ‘dan wake’ flour test 1 Aa. The ratios 60:15:5: 16:3:1 is for composite flour test 2 Bb, and 9:18:9:60:3:1 for composite ‘dan wake’ flour test 3 Cc respectively. A control ‘dan wake’ flour wheat flour 100% (WWF) and cassava flour 100% (CCF) served as control. The following parameters were assayed using standard laboratory methods. These include; in vitro protein and carbohydrate digestibility, and antinutritional factors. Results of the in vitro protein and carbohydrate digestibility show a significant (P<0.05) increase in all the samples after processing, while that of the antinutritional factors were significantly (<0.05) reduced after processing. For the composite dan wake flours, in terms of in vitro protein and carbohydrate digestibility, samples Aa and Bb recorded the highest values compared to the control samples and Cc. In conclusion, from the results obtained, the processing method employed has significantly reduced the antinutritional contents of all the dan wake formulations, thereby leading to improved protein and carbohydrate digestibility of the formulations. However, among the dan wake formulations, Aa and Bb are superior in terms of protein and carbohydrate digestibility compared to the control composite dan wake flour. Keywords Dan wake; Bambara nut; Cassava; Cowpea; Antinutritional