Rheological behaviour of weaning food formulations as affected by addition of malt

Abstract

Summary Eight weaning food formulations were prepared from the mixture of pearl millet, cowpea and groundnut in the ratio of 70:20:10. The viscosities of gruels from the eight weaning food formulations were determined at eight shear rates and five temperatures, and data obtained were subjected to power‐law and Arrhenius equations. The viscosity of the weaning food gruels decreased with increase in shear rate and temperature. The gruels from the eight weaning food formulations exhibited pseudoplastic behaviour. The power‐law indices (‘ n ’ values) were significantly ( P < 0.05) affected by the formulations and changes in temperature. Weaning food formulations that had no malt showed the least sensitivity to temperature, while the one that had 5% ICMV‐IS 94206 malt showed the highest. The correlation coefficient ranged from −0.9993 to −0.9524, showing that the power‐law model adequately described the viscosity and shear rate characteristics of the weaning food gruels.