Chemical composition, functional and pasting properties of cassava starch and soy protein concentrate blends

The chemical, functional and pasting properties of cassava starch and soy protein concentrate blends intended for biofilm processing were studied. Cassava starch and soy protein concentrates were prepared and mixed at different proportions (100: 0%; 90: 10%; 80: 20%; 70: 30%; 60;40% and 50: 50%). Addition of varying levels of soy protein concentrates to cassava starch led to increases in moisture (from 7.10 to 9.17%), protein (from 0.32 to 79.03%), ash (from 0.45 to 2.67%) and fat (from 0.17 to 0.98%) contents while crude fiber, carbohydrate and amylose contents decreased from (1.19 to 0.38%, 90.77 to 57.01% and 29.45 to 23.04%) respectively. Water absorption capacity and swelling power of cassava starch were improved as a result of soy protein concentrate addition while syneresis and solubility value of composite blends were lower than 100% cassava starch. In general, cassava-soy protein concentrate blends formed firmer gels than cassava starch alone. There were significant (p ≤ 0.05) increases in peak viscosity (from 160.12 to 268.32RVU), final viscosity (from 140.41 to 211.08RVU) and pasting temperature (from 71.00 to 72.32 C) of cassava starch due to addition of soy protein concentrate. These results suggest that the addition of soy protein concentrate to cassava starch affected the studied functional properties of cassava starch as evidenced by changes such as reduced syneresis, and solubility that are desirable when considering this biopolymer as an edible biofilm.