Assessment of Selected Properties of Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana L.) Flours as Influenced by Fermentation Period

Abstract

Finger Millet (FM) is an important cereal with high nutritional value. However, it is underutilized due to its small grain size and the presence of anti-nutritional factors. Therefore, this study determined the effect of fermentation period on selected properties of finger millet. Finger millet grains were cleaned, washed and fermented for 0, 24, 48 and 72 h at room temperature (27±2oC), and samples were taken at each of the fermentation periods respectively. Proximate, mineral, anti-nutritional, functional, and 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging capacity of the fermented finger millet flour were determined. Analyses reported in this study were carried out in triplicates and data obtained were reported as mean ± standard deviation. Data obtained were subjected to one-way analysis of variance, and significant means were separated using Duncan’s New Multiple Range Test at p<0.05 level of significance. Moisture content ranged from (8.03-12.63%), protein (7.07 to 7.12%), fat (1.28 to 1.54%), crude fibre (0.31 to 0.68%), ash (1.92 to 2.36%), carbohydrate (75.72 to 81.14%), calcium (201.93 to 720.96 mg/100g), magnesium (134.33 to 173.37 mg/100g), phosphorus (129.59 to 548.24 mg/100g), sodium (34.78 to 121.52 mg/100g), iron (14.66 to 15.31 mg/100g), zinc (5.56 to 18.98 mg/100g), and DPPH (54.50 to 66.15%), respectively. The study showed that fermentation as a pretreatment method contributed to the increase in some of the nutritional components of the flour particularly the minerals, antioxidant and functional properties. Fermentation period of 48 h gave the best data on the nutritional quality of FM flour with notable reduction in anti-nutrient level.