L.O. ENEJE, V.O. ANIAKU AND C.O. ONU
Abstract
The effects of germination time and watering regimes on the cold water extract and diastatic power of local cultivars of Nigerian millet and sorghum malt were investigated. Malts were produced from 200 g of millet and sorghum cultivar each after steeping in 1.0% formaldehyde solution for 48 hours, germinating under low, medium and high watering regimes for 3-5 days. Each of the germinating grain samples was moistened 6 hourly using 50mL of water for low watering regime, 100mL for medium watering and 150mL for high watering regime. The cold water extract and diastatic power of the resulting malts all increased with the level of watering. Highest values of the cold water and diastatic power were recorded on the fifth day of germination with millet malt having the cold water extract and diastatic power of 57.0% and 350L respectively while the sorghum malt had cold water extract and diastatic power of 61.0% and 40.10 0L respectively. The overall result had shown that watering regime and germination time had positive impact on the malting properties of our local sorghum and millet malts.The analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the Values obtained for each parameter determined showed that the cold water extract and diastatic power of the sorghum and millet malt was significantly (P<0.05) dependent on the watering regime applied during germination and malting time.