Abstract

                                The present study was performed using conjoint analysis for optimizing the ingredients level in the development of millet and pulse-based Ready-To-Eat (RTE) extruded products. Conjoint analysis is a multivariate technique used to understand the preference of the product by the consumer, and it is helpful to formulate the prediction about the different ingredient levels in the product. Also, it is called “Trade-off analysis”. The experimental design of treatments with several card ID lists about 9 numbers with different levels of ingredients used for developing the extruded product. The primary level of raw material was barnyard millet (Echinochloa esculenta) (40 %, 50 %, 60 %), chickpea (Cicer arietinum) (10 %, 20%, 30%) and Maize Zea mays (40 %, 50%, 60%). These principle levels of ingredients give more combinations so sensory panel members may give irresponsible and inappropriate results. The statistical tool conjoint analysis will reduce the number of treatments for optimizing the product. The selection of ingredients level in the development of millet and pulse based RTE extruded products was based on relative importance and utility estimate of quality attributes, which was given by conjoint analysis software program through panelist rank for sensory attributes using of 9 point hedonic scale. Hence, the ingredients combinations were found to be barnyard millet (60%), chickpea (20 %), and Maize (40 %). These combinations were optimized based on their higher level of relative importance and utility estimate.

Key words : Conjoint analysis; Millet and Pulse based extruded product; Ready-To- Eat; Barnyard millet; Utility estimate; Relative importance