A Comparative Study on the Viscoelastic Properties of Wheat, Maize and Cassava Flours as Affected by Some Leguminous Seed Flours

The effects of some leguminous seed flour (LSF) on the viscoelastic properties of wheat, maize and cassava flours were investigated. The aim of the work was to evaluate the effect of the LSF on the pasting characteristics of the flours. There were significant differences in the proximate composition of the flours used in this study. Three LSF namely Brachystegia eurycoma, Detarium microcarpum, and Mucuna sloanei flours were used in this study. The LSF were added differently at 0 and 2% to wheat, maize and cassava flours on dry weight bases, the 0% addition served as the control. The viscoelastic properties were determined using Rapid Visco Analyser (RVA). The results showed that the LSF significantly affected the pasting properties of the wheat, maize and cassava flours. The LSF significantly increased (p>0.05) the breakdown, final, trough and peak viscosities of the wheat and maize flours. However, the LSF significantly (p>0.05) reduced the peak, breakdown and setback viscosities of cassava flour compared to the control.