Protein Nutritional Quality and Consumer Acceptability of Tropical Ghanaian Quality Protein Maize

Abstract

Quality protein maize (QPM) is a high-lysine, high-tryptophan variety. the essential amino acid profile, the protein efficiency ratio (PER) of mixtures of QPM and normal maize, and the hedonic response to three traditional foods were studied with four QPM varieties. the lysine content of the QPM varieties ranged from 3.7 to 4.2 g/100 g protein and was significantly (p < .05) higher than that for normal maize (2.6 to 3.1 g/100 g protein), but lower than the FAO-recommended human level of 5.0 g/100 g protein, the PER values of normal maize showed significant (p < .05) improvement at replacement levels of 60% or more with QPM. the overall acceptability scores showed that QPM varieties were equally acceptable as normal maize in ga kenkey and were preferred to the local normal maize in tuo zafi. The tropical Ghanaian QPM varieties have enhanced amino acid profiles and were acceptable in traditional foods.