Patience C. Obinna-Echem^{1, 2,}, Thomas Adjei-Duodu¹

This study utilized the Integrated total dietary fibre assay in evaluating the total dietary fibre (TDF) components: insoluble dietary fibre (IDF), soluble dietary fibre precipitates (SDFP) and soluble dietary fibre soluble (SDFS), of porridges from ground maize slurries fermented by Lactobacillus plantarum strain and porridges from akamu sample. The traditional process was modified by skipping the soaking, wet milling and wet sieving stages to fermenting ground whole maize slurries with pure culture of L. plantarum strain. The aim was to investigate the effect of the production method on the dietary fibre composition of the new in comparison to akamu sample. The samples had similar physical and microbiological characteristics: pH of 3.43 – 3.95, titratable acidity of 1.05 – 1.59% and lactic acid bacteria count of 8.56 CFU mL^-1. The most available sugar from the SDFS was glucose (43 - 54 mg mL^-1 for 24 h L. plantarum fermentation and the akamu sample, respectively). The akamu sample had the lowest IDF and the highest SDF (50.80 mg g^-1) with particular reference to its SDFS (35.40 mg g^-1) content. This study has brought to knowledge the dietary fibre component of a Nigerian fermented maize food.

Lactobacillus plantarum, Maize porridge, fermentation, akamu, insoluble dietary fibre, soluble dietary fibre precipitates, soluble dietary fibre soluble