Development and Quality Assessment of “Cereal Bar” Supplemented with Moringa Leaves Powder

The present study was aimed to prepare a “Cereal Bar” fortified by incorporation of 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10% Moringa Leaves Powder (MLP). The developed cereal bars were assessed for proximate composition, textural properties, color analysis and sensory attributes. The results revealed that the increased level of MLP supplementation from 2.5-10% significantly increased contents of protein (12.54-15.59%), ash (1.84-3.36%), and crude fibre (4.14-6.14%) but decreased fat content (4.68-5.21%) compared to control cereal bar. The incorporation of MLP had significantly affected the color and textural properties of cereal bars. Moreover, among the textural attributes of cereal bars, hardness (30.06-41.41N), chewiness (6.84-7.60N cm), gumminess (11.94-15.41N) were found to be increased whereas, springiness (0.573-0.493 cm) and cohesiveness (0.397-0.373) decreased with increase in supplementation of MLP from 2.5-10%. On the other hand, color parameters viz., L* (45.51-34.06), a* (7.25-4.72) and b* (17.49-10.91) significantly decreased with increased level of MLP from 2.5-10%. The cereal bar supplemented upto 5% MLP were acceptable in respect of organoleptic evaluation and further supplementation of MLP (7.5-10%) was less acceptable due to bitter taste and loss of textural properties.