Abstract

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Ogi, a common fermented food from maize is usually low in protein mostly when produced from maize alone. This research was carried out to determine the possibility of improving the nutritional value mostly protein, carbohydrate and ash content of pap using soybeans. The maize was steeped together with different percentages of parboiled soy bean (5-50%), and allowed to ferment for 0-72 hours. 0.1 ml of the fermentation water was aseptically inoculated unto appropriate media for isolation of fermenting microorganisms. The isolates include Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus spp, Lactobacillus spp, Bacillus spp, Corynebacterium spp, Escherichia coli, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus spp, Mucor spp, Penicillium spp, Rhizopus spp and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Lactobacillus spp, Bacillus spp and Saccharomyces cerevisiae persisted throughout the fermentation time. Ogi sample from white maize without soybean (Control) has the lowest protein content (14.65±0.1%) while ogi from yellow maize with 50% boiled soybean has the highest protein content (53.31 ±0.1%). Processing maize with up to 50% soybean will tremendously improve nutritional value of pap consumed by infants and adults.

Keywords: Fermentation, maize, microorganisms, nutritional improvement, ogi, soybeans.