Viscosity and Nutritional Evaluation of Rats Fed with Complementary Foods Produced From Broken Fractions of Improved Rice Cultivars, Soybeans and Sorghum Malt

Abstract

This study examines the use of broken fractions of rice, soybean and sorghum as low cost materials for production and formulation of complementary foods. Percentage broken fractions of grains, purity of grains, viscosities of formulations, experimental feeding parameters using Wistar rats were evaluated. Five out of the formulations were selected based on their composition and were evaluated on weanling rats for their nutritional significance. Results of broken fractions of rice cultivars ranged from 28.83 to 92.30%, purity of grains 97.72 to 99.86%, viscosity of gruels at 10% and 20% level of concentration were 662.02 to 1949.40 and 1845.03 to 2714.03 Cp respectively, while protein efficiency ratio (PER) of blends ranges between 1.47 to 2.00. Higher percentage broken fractions were observed in FARO 44 and 52 and purity of grains are more than 97% in all the cultivars. There was significant reduction of viscosity of gruels containing malt. Slightly low PER was observed in formulation containing indigenous rice than the other formulations produced from improved rice cultivars. No mortality was recorded in rats throughout the period of experimental feeding study.