Browsing by Author "Muthomi James W."

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    Assessing Sensory Characteristics and Consumer Preference of Legume-Cereal-Root Based Porridges in Nandi County
    (Journal of Food Quality, 2019-06-18) Gitau Peninah W.; Kunyanga Catherine N.; Abong’ George O.; Ojiem John O.; Muthomi James W.
    Previously, porridge has been cereal based, consumed as a beverage or weaning food. Malnutrition among children has necessitated inclusion of legumes and roots in an e ort to boost nutrient density. erefore, the current study aimed at identifying the most acceptable porridge based on di erent food ingredient combination. Composite porridge our included legumes (soybean, groundnut, and lablab), cereals ( nger millet, sorghum, maize, and wheat), pseudocereals (pumpkin seed, buckwheat, and amaranth seed), and roots (cassava and arrowroot). New composite porridge ours were formulated using Nutrisurvey linear programming software. Di erent composite ours formulated to target either school-going children or a family setup were subjected to sensory analysis and the consumer preference test. Eight new formulations were developed. Buckwheat, wheat, and arrowroot were eliminated, maize and lablab content (%) were reduced, and cassava and nger were increased in the new formulations. A total of 149 participants composed of men (30.9%) and women (69.1%) aged between 11 and >60 yrs were interviewed. Newly formulated porridges were more preferred to the previous porridge formulations on color (40–54.2%), smell (40–52.4%), taste (41.5–47.5%), texture (58.3%), viscosity (35.4–45.8%), and overall acceptability (35–54.2%). e most cited reason for liking or disliking a particular porridge was taste (38.9%) and texture (32.2%), respectively. However, all the sensory attributes positively correlated with overall acceptability. Increased nger millet and cassava proportions in the newly formulated composite porridge our highly in uenced their high acceptability. us, consumer acceptability of new products is key for their adoption.
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    Publication
    Impact of Push–Pull Cropping System on Pest Management and Occurrence of Ear Rots and Mycotoxin Contamination of Maize in Western Kenya
    (Plant Pathology, 2020-08-18) Njeru Nancy K.; Midega Charles A. O; Muthomi James W.; WagachaJohn M.; Khan Zeyaur R.
    Push–pull involves intercropping of cereals with Desmodium as a “push” crop and planting Napier grass/Brachiaria as the “pull” crop at the border. The technology has been reported to effectively control stemborers, striga weed, and fall armyworm (FAW), and to improve soil nutrition, resulting in increased grain yield. This study evaluated the impact of stemborer and FAW management using this technology on incidence of maize ear rots and preharvest contamination of grains with aflatoxin and fumonisin in western Kenya. The study was conducted during three cropping seasons on maize grown under the push–pull system and as a monocrop. Incidence of stemborer and FAW damage was determined as percentage of damaged plants, while incidence of ear rots was determined as percentage of ears with symptoms. At harvest, fungi were isolated from kernels and aflatoxin and fumonisin were quantified using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Stemborer and FAW damage was significantly (p = .001) reduced by over 50% under the push–pull system. There was also a significant (p < .001) reduction in the incidence of Fusarium verticillioides (60%) and Aspergillus flavus (86%), which was reflected in a reduced incidence of ear rots (50%) with the push–pull system (p = .001). Fumonisin in maize from push-pull farms was significantly (p = .048) reduced (39%) but the technology had no significant (p > .05) effect on aflatoxin. The study showed that push–pull is an effective strategy for managing maize ear rots and fumonisins, and therefore could play a role in improving food safety among smallholder maize farmers in the region.