FUNCTIONAL AND RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF COMPOSITE PRODUCED FROM PARTIALLY COOKED BANANA, MAIZE AND MILLET GRAIN FLOUR BLENDS.

ABSTRACT This study investigate the functional and rheological properties of flour produced from millet, maize and partially cooked banana blends, the samples were cleaned and dried in an oven for 48hours at 60oC. The dried sample was dry milled using the attrision machine into a fine flour and then packaged for analysis the result shows that the highest peak viscosity was observed in WF3 (2531 cP), while the lowest was in HY2 (901 cP). The high peak viscosity of WF3, which contains 70% wheat, 15% maize, 5% millet, and 10% banana, suggests a significant contribution from the wheat starch, which has a high swelling capacity, showed that wheat flour tends to have high peak viscosity due to its starch content, which can absorb more water than other cereals like maize or millet. Conversely, blends with higher proportions of maize and banana showed reduced peak viscosity. Maize starch typically exhibits lower peak viscosity compared to wheat, as it swells less due to its compact granular structure (Sefa-Dedeh et al., 2013). HY2 had the highest swelling capacity (5.45 g/g), while MV7 had the lowest (3.43 g/g). The higher swelling capacity in HY2 and ZX5 is attributed to the higher banana and maize content. Banana starch, particularly when heated, forms gels with a high water retention capacity, leading to a greater swelling capacity.