Evaluation of maize-based, vitamin A-enriched flat bread from blending ratio of orange fleshed sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) flour at Arbaminch, Southern Ethiopia

This study was conducted to evaluate maize-based; vitamin A enriched flat breads from orange fleshed sweet potato (OFSP). To enhance vitamin A content of maize based flour, five formulations of flat breads were prepared from blending ratio of 100%(S1), 85:15% (S2), 75:25%(S3), 65:35% (S4) and 55:45% (S5) maize and OFSP flours, respectively. Designs of the study were Completely Randomized for nutritional composition and randomized complete block design for sensory acceptability with 5 treatments and three replications. Sensory acceptability and nutritional compositions of maize-based, vitamin A-enriched flat bread samples prepared from maize and OFSP were evaluated in triplicate. Sample (S5) was most accepted in all sensorial acceptability except color at community level panelists compared with other flat bread samples. The nutritional composition of the flat bread samples showed an increase in the values of crude fiber, moisture, ash and carbohydrate content while the protein, fat and energy content of flat bread were increased as OFSP flours were increased in the formulation. The OFSP and maize flour blends flat bread samples and control sample were observed to have significantly different (p<0.05) in mean scores of vitamin A content. The vitamin A (µg RAE) content of the sample (S1) was 0.00 µg RAE. The vitamin A content was highest (331.60 µg RAE) for the S5 sample. OFSP flour up to 45% can possibly be incorporated in maize-based, flat bread to increase vitamin A content. The moisture content of maize based, vitamin A-enriched flat bread samples are gradual increased with the amount of OFSP flour in blend increased, therefore microbial quality and physical properties of samples will be needed for further research.