Pearl millet flour was fortified with Bambara groundnut flour (0-20%) to form blends used in Kunun tsamiya preparation. Functional and microbiological profiles of the flours and modified kunu samples as well as proximate and sensory properties were evaluated. Fortification had raised the nutritional value of the foods. Swelling power and water absorption capacity had increased with an increase in the level of bambara groundnut flour addition whereas bulk density and viscosity had decreased, the results were as follows- swelling power (23.512-27.654%), water absorption capacity (3.300-4.650 g/g), bulk density (0.791-0.779 g/cm3), viscosity (48.625-56.555 mPa-s). The moisture content, ash, fat, protein, fiber, carbohydrate and total energy levels were found as follows- 78.90-83.64%, 0.24-0.35%, 1.88-3.95%, 3.52-6.02%, 0.70-0.78%, 5.27-14.77% and 80.69-90.02 kcal/100g respectively. The concentration of anti-nutritional factors, alkaloids, flavonoids, phytic acids and tannins ranged from 0.03 to 0.07g/100g, 0.12 to 0.19g/100g, 2.21 to 4.29g/100g and 0.04 to 0.07g/100g respectively. The minerals contents were found to be significant as follows Ca (21.82 to 26.53 mg/100g), Fe (5.19 to 6.24 mg/100g), Zn (1.71 to 2.11 mg/100g), P (83.39 to 93.28 mg/100g), Mg (1.04 to 1.08 mg/100g), K (65.84 to 81.34 mg/100g), Na (8.60 to 10.59 mg/100g). In-vitro protein digestibility at 1h ranged between 66.86 to 68.76% and 68.17 to 69.17% at 6hrs; starch digestibility ranged between 68.99 and 72.17%. Microbial findings generally revealed moderate counts with a total microbial load of 1.41x103cfu/g in the K0MfB (100:00) formulation. Salmonella and Escherichia coli were not detected in Kunun tsamiya samples made from an 80:20% millet-bambara nut flour blend. Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidemidis, Salmonella spp, Klebsiella spp, Pseudomonas spp and Escherichia coli were isolated with the following percentage occurrences 27.92%, 20.13%, 12.34%, 16.88%, 17.86% and 4.87% respectively. Sensory evaluation results revealed that Kunun tsamiya from 80:20% millet-bambara groundnut nut flour blends had better taste, aroma and general acceptability and as such the food formulation was the most liked, nutritious and as well most preferred by the test panelists. Therefore it's concluded that fortification of pearl millet with bambara groundnut at 20% level enhanced the nutrient density of the resulting kunu tsamiya without adversely affecting its well-known organoleptic properties.

Keywords: Pearl millet, Bambara groundnut, Supplementation, Kunun tsamiya, Invitro-digestibility, Antinutrients, Minerals, Bacteria prevalence, Functional properties, Food fortification.

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The authors declare having no competing interest with any party concerned during this publication.

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Authors' contributions:

All the authors made full contribution starting from proposal writing, visualization, methodology, data analysis, first draft writing, review and editing.