Nutritional quality and sensory acceptability of complementary food blended from maize (Zea mays), roasted pea (Pisum sativum), and malted barley (Hordium vulgare)

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of blending ratio of malted barley, maize, and roasted pea flour on complementary food quality and sensory acceptability. D- Optimal mixture design was used to generate 14 formulations. Each ingredient had 55-90% maize, 20-35% pea and 4-12% malted barley. Pretreatments like debranning of maize, roasting of pea and dehusking of malted barley were done. The three component-constrained mixture design was conducted using Design-Expert® 6 (Stat-Ease). Ash, protein, fat, fiber, moisture, and carbohydrate contents were found in between range of 1.5-2.5%, 13.0-18.5%, 1.8-2.5%, 3.06-4.45%, 5.0-6.5%, and 68.9-74.1%, respectively. Significant difference (P < 0.05) among the treatments was observed for protein, moisture, odor, flavor and sensory overall acceptability. Lack-of-fit was significantly different only for fat (R2  = 0.90). Thus, the model generated can predict all attributes except for fat. The optimum values of high nutrient content and sensory acceptability were observed in the range of 55.0-68.5%, 27.5-35.0%, and 4.0-10.0% for maize, pea, and malted barley respectively.