Physico-chemical characteristics of wheat flour and millet flour blends

The millets studied include foxtail (Setaria italica), barnyard (Echinochloa colona) and finger millet (Eleusine coracana). In addition, effect of adding millet flours at 10-30% level to wheat flour was also investigated. A major portion of whole flours (77.06-84.52%) of foxtail and barnyard millet had particle size more than 250 mu whereas 88.22-90.08% weight of milled flours and 86.18% weight of whole finger millet flour had particle size above 125 mu. The bulk density, true density and porosity of different flours ranged from 0.59 to 0.80 g/cc, 1.14 to 1.44 g/cc and 40.67 to 52.50%, respectively. The millet flours contained (%) moisture 10.01-12.17, protein (N x 6.25) 8.69-11.86, crude fat 1.23-4.47, total ash 2.71-7.02 and carbohydrates 70.13-75.07. As the level of millet flours in the blends increased, the contents of various nutrients varied significantly.