Cereal Chem 66:249-251   |  VIEW ARTICLE

The Nutritive Value of Mixtures of Two Varieties of Bambarra Groundnut and Sorghum.

I. C. Obizoba. Copyright 1989 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Thirty albino rats were used to investigate the nutritive value of mixtures of two bambarra groundnut varieties (cream and brown) with sorghum. The bambarra groundnuts were dehulled and soaked and mixed in a 70:30 ratio with sorghum soaked for 18 or 24 hr. The 12-day balance study consisted of a five-day adjustment and a seven-day nitrogen and mineral balance period. The four all-vegetable mixed test diets and casein, which served as the control, provided 1.6 g of nitrogen per 100 g of diet daily during this study. Casein caused decreases in food and N intakes, weight gain, and dietary and retained phosphorus and increased other parameters tested. Dehulling improved the nutritive value of the cream variety better than the brown except for dietary and retained iron. Soaking improved the nutritive value of the brown variety much more than the cream. The results of this study indicate that blends of bambarra groundnut and sorghum could provide cheap and nutritious dishes for the populations that use them as staple foods.