Nutritional Evaluation of Complimentary Food Produced from Malted Rice (Oryza sativa), Tiger Nut (Cyperus esculentus) and defatted Sesame Seeds (Sesamum indicum) Flour Blends Using Albino Rats

Complimentary food is any food or drink given to infants in addition to breast milk or formula when breast milk alone is no longer enough to meet their nutritional needs. This experiment was conducted to evaluate the nutritional qualities of complementary food produced from malted rice (Oryza sativa), tiger nuts (Cyperus esculentus) and defatted sesame seeds (Sesamum indicum) using Albino Rats. The complimentary foods were produced from varied ratios (100:0:0; 80:15:5;70:25:5; 82.5:10:7.5; 80:10:10 and 77.55:10:12.5 respectively) of malted rice, defatted sesame seed and tiger nut flour with the aim of meeting the energy and protein needs of infants at age 6 to 24 months. The protein quality, serum biochemical and haematological indices of albino rat fed with prepared complimentary foods were determined using standard methods. Ogi and Cerelac were use as the control samples. The data obtained were analysed statistically using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) (25.0). The data were subjected to a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the average mean scores separated using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at p<0.05. The protein qualities; PER, NR, BV, NPU and TPU increased from 0.23 to 0.24, 1.48 to 3.00, 66.91 to 80.09, 0.64 to 0.67 and 64.38 to 70.92%, respectively, with increase in the added defatted sesame seed flour (0 to 25%) but deceased with addition of tiger nut flour. The biochemical indices that is the total protein, albumin, ALP, ALT, AST, creatine and urea increased from 6.48 to 7.21 g/dL, 2.30 to 3.30 g/dL, 121.2 to 168.20, 5.30 to 6.20, 27.00 to 55.20, 21.21 to 26.07 and 4.90 to 5.10 µ/L, respectively, with increase in the added defatted sesame seed flour (0 - 25%) but decreased with added tiger nut (0-12.5%). The haematological parameters include WBC, RBC, HB, PCV, MCV, MCH and MCHC increased from 7.64 to 8.87 x 103mm3, 8.30 to 8.96 x103mm3, 17.70 to 18.37 g/dl, 44.00 to 50.00%, 56.00 to 63.00 fl, 21.70 to 22.50 pg, 30.00 to 33.00 g/dL, respectively, with increase in the added defatted sesame seed flour (0 - 25%) but decreased with added tiger nut flour (0 to 12.5%). The quality of the protein of the produced complementary food is higher than the locally prepared ogi but compared favourably with the commercially produced cerelac