This study investigated some quality attributes of unripe cooking banana (UBF), pigeon pea (PPF), and sweetpotato (SPF) flour blends. Simplex centroid mixture design was used to obtain 17 blends from the flours. The nutrient composition, color, and functional properties of the blends were evaluated using standard methods. Data were subjected to analysis of variance and treatment means were compared using Duncan's multiple range test at 5% probability level. There were significant (p < .05) differences in the nutrient composition, and functional and pasting properties of the blends. The crude protein, crude fiber, ash, foaming capacity, emulsion capacity, and least gelation capacity of the blends increased as the PPF level increased. The blends had Na/K ratio of <1.0. The dispersibility, bulk density, water, and oil absorption capacities of the blends increased as SPF and UBF increased. The peak, setback, and final viscosities increased as UBF and SPF inclusion increased,whereas pasting temperature and time increased as the PPF level increased. The L*, a*, and b* values of the flour blends which were significantly (p < .05) different ranged from 79.58 to 102.71, −0.15 to 2.79, and 13.82 to 23.69, respectively. Cooking banana-pigeon pea-sweetpotato flour blends are desirable for alleviating malnutrition in Nigeria and developing new food formulations. K E Y W O R D SFunctional properties, nutrient composition, pigeon pea, sweetpotato, unripe cooking banana | INTRODUCTIONAccording to Noorfarahzihah, Lee, Sharifudin, Mohd-Fadzelly, and Hasmadi (2014), composite flour is defined as a mixture of flours from tubers (e.g. cassava, yam, sweetpotato) and/or legumes (e.g. soybean, pigeon pea, peanut) and/or cereal (e.g. maize, wheat, rice, millet, buckwheat). The use of composite flour has been identified by researchers as possible avenue of producing high-quality nutritious food productsand a means of reducing the huge amount of foreign exchange spent by Nigeria in the importation of wheat flour (Olaoye, Onilude, & Idowu, 2006;Nwosu, 2013;Vaughan, Afolami, Oyekale, & Ayegbokiki, 2014).Basically, banana is an essential source of minerals (iron, zinc, selenium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium), vitamins (A, B1, B2, B6, and C), polyphenols, resistant starch, and antioxidants , 2015). The objective of this study was therefore to determine the nutrient composition, functional, and pasting properties of flour blends from unripe cooking banana, pigeon pea, and sweet potato. | MATERIALS AND METHODS | Materials | Production of unripe banana flourThe procedure described by Daramola and Osanyinlusi (2006) in | Production of pigeon pea flourThe method described by Fasoyiro et al. (2010) seeds were cleaned, sorted, and cooked in boiling water for 20 min.The seed coats were dehulled using a Philips blender, drained, and dried in the Genlab Cabinet dryer at 60°C for 48 hr. The dried pigeon pea seeds were allowed to cool at room temperature, and milled and packaged, as described for banana flour. | Production of...

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Heavy metals and physicochemical characteristics of the different sites of the municipal solid waste dumpsite at Olusosun Landfill, Lagos, Nigeria, were investigated. The dormant site of the landfill has the potential of being a source of immediate environmental risk compared to the active and abandoned site, with the active site exhibiting tendency to be a likely source of Pb, Cd and Zn pollution. Zn was the most abundant metal in the area (0.264-0.947 mg/L) while Cd concentration was the lowest (0.001-0.022 mg/L). Pb, Cd, Zn were from anthropogenic sources and correlated significantly with chemical oxygen demand and oil and grease. Cu and Cr were more abundant in the dormant site and are attached to the solids as indicated by their significant correlation with TS and SS. The physicochemical characteristic of the leachate from the landfill indicate that they were more alkaline in nature, with TA range of 2354 to 7946 mg/L while the chemical oxygen demand values was also high 518.14 to 725.01 mg/L. The comparative analysis of the dormant site with other dormant site reveal a moderate concentration of the parameters measured but could contaminate the neighboring groundwater if not checked.

The effect of carboxymethylation on the functional and physicochemical properties of bambara groundnut starch was studied. The starch yield on the dry weight of the seed basis was 40.35%, degree of substitution was 0.78, while the reaction efficiency was 62.50%. The FTIR spectra confirmed the presence of the carboxymethylated group on the modified starch granule with new bands at 1590, 1455 and 1423 cm )1 . X-ray diffractogram revealed the loss of crystallinity as a result of carboxymethylation of the starch. DSC study showed that the gelatinisation temperature and enthalpy were significantly altered by the carboxymethylation, also the pasting property corroborate this observation with the increase in the paste viscosity from 278.58 to 300.83 RVU. The solubility and swelling power of the native and carboxymethylated starch increased with increase in temperature, but with no significant effect on the swelling power of the starch in alkaline and acidic medium (pH 2-12).

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