Development and Profiling of Affordable and Nutritionally Optimal Pigeon Pea-Based Products for Improved Recipes Diversification in Rural Communities in Tanzania

Abstract

Pigeon pea is an affordable source of protein, vitamins and minerals. Despite its nutritional importance, the legume has not been adequately utilized for human consumption in Tanzania due to limited recipes. Therefore, the study aimed to develop and profile quantitative attributes of value-added pigeon pea-based noodles (PPBN) and instant porridge (PPIP) flour for diversification of recipes in rural Tanzania communities. The computation on the amount of ingredients, the cost of the product mix and optimization was done using Linear programming, simplex method. PPBN and PPIP were developed and Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) was done by trained panelists. Data were analysed using R and XLSTAT software. Eight and four samples of PPBN and PPIP respectively were formulated and developed. Major ingredients for PPBN was pigeon pea, wheat and orange flesh sweet potatoes flour and for PPIP was pigeon pea, maize, orange flesh sweet potatoes flour (or pumpkin flour). The protein content for PPBN ranged from 41.0 to 58.2 g. The highest amount of iron content was observed in sample PPBN193 (26.4 mg), followed by PPBN1718 (21.0 mg), PPBN267 (19.3 mg) and PPBN136 (18.3mg). The highest value of zinc and pro-vitamin A was observed in sample PPBN136. For instant porridge the highest value of protein (17.1 g), iron (7.9 g), zinc (5.4 mg) and pro-vitamin A (308.5 µg) was observed in sample PPIP_ofsp^r. The highest mean intensity score for colour, aroma and mouthfeel was observed in samples PPBN718, PPBN193 and PPBN136. For sample PPIP_ofsp^r, colour (8.7) Aroma (7.7), mouthfeel (7.8), sweetness (7.1) and viscosity (7.9) had the highest mean intensity score. There was a significant increase in protein, iron, zinc and pro-vitamin A with an increase in the amount of pigeon pea and/or orange flesh sweet potato flour. Sample PPBN718, PPBN193, PPBN136 and PPIP_ofsp^r had better nutritional and sensory qualities that make