Physicochemical analysis
Control (T4) and samples (T1, T2, T3) were taken and the results are presented in Table 2. Infra digi pH meter was used to determine the pH of the control and yogurt samples (
Soni et al., 2021). The moisture characterization analysis was measured according to the method reported by
(Dimitrellou et al., 2020). Moisture content of the Freeze-Dried Yoghurt mix sample (T3) was found to be 3.04±1.03% which is subsequently lower than that reported. The moisture content present in the freeze-dried control sample were also found to be 3.09±1.20% is the same as discussed by Dimitrellou. The pH of the yogurt was found to be ranging from 4.0 to 4.6 as figured by
(Soni et al., 2020). This shows that the moisture content is less than the store-bought yogurt and can sustain a longer shelf-life as compared with the studies made by
(Zahir et al., 2023).
Antioxidant activities
DPPH assay
As shown in Fig 2, the yogurt samples demonstrated an increase in DPPH-scavenging activity with the addition of strawberry puree and finger millet slurry. This increase can be attributed to the high antioxidant content of strawberries and similar berries, as reported by
(Archaina et al., 2019). In that study, blackcurrant yogurt candies exhibited even higher antioxidant activity, providing a valuable reference point. In a similar study, conducted by (
Okur, 2022) showed increased antioxidant content with addition of red bell peppers. The yogurt samples in this study were analyzed using the DPPH radical scavenging assay. The optical density (OD) values of samples T3 and T4 indicated their antioxidant capacities, with higher OD values reflecting greater activity. Specifically, treatment T3 showed a significantly higher OD of 0.432 compared to T4, indicating superior antioxidant activity (P<0.05). This finding aligns with the observations of
Lee et al., (2020), where DPPH values increased following the addition of blueberry powder, as also noted by
(Salehi et al., 2021). The experiments performed to assess the antioxidant properties of the yogurt samples. The findings suggest the yogurt formulations help reduce oxidative stress. This is even more so when considered in relation to environments that present higher oxidative challenges such as space where increased radiation requirements mean that there is a need for more antioxidant intake.
Total phenolic compounds
The yogurt control had TPC values of 63.24 mg/100 g discussed in Fig 3, aligning with reports that phenolic compounds (PCs) in cow’s milk, derived from diet or amino acid breakdown, contribute naturally. Another study reported TPC values at 38.9 mg/100 g
(Wang et al., 2024). Treatment T3 had an initial OD of 0.942, which then reduced to 0.543, yielding a scavenging percentage of 42.3%. In relation to this, Treatment T4 also began with an OD of 0.893 and ended with an OD of 0.457, yielding a scavenging percentage of 38.9%. these results have implied that both treatments have strong antioxidant properties while T3 is a little higher than T4. These findings align with that of the study by (Kulaitien, 2021) where yogurt bites enriched with rosehip fruit powder showed the highest phenolic content at 49.05 mg·100 gH1, followed by nettle and mulberry leaves powders at 40.51 mg·100 gH1 and 38.81 mg·100 gH1, respectively
(Samakradhamrongthai et al., 2021).
Proximate analysis
The proximate analysis of the samples (T3) and (T4) were shown in the Table 2. The energy content present in the freshly prepared yogurt mix were found to be 419.34 kcal estimated from the analysis, while the content of energy in T4 was found to be 130.05 kcal which is significant increase as depicted in the results found by
(Wang et al., 2020). The protein content estimated from the proximate analysis have showed the presence of 8.8±0.21 g in the mix while the content is a little low that is 6.4±0.44 g. This shows that the treatment T3 when consumed by astronauts on longer missions to meet a part of their protein requirement which will be helpful for the growth and repair of muscles. The prepared samples (T3 and T4) have reliable values of fat content 7.9±0.02 g and 1.55±0.34 g respectively
(Wang et al., 2020). This implies that the fat content in the yogurt mix might account to the mouthfeel and satiety of the astronaut in spite of the raise in total calorie amount (
Vila-Real et al., 2022). The carbohydrate content in treatments T3 (82.26 mg) and T4 (120.48 mg) differed, likely due to natural sugars from strawberry and finger millet. The calcium content (241.5 mg in T3 and 152 mg in T4) is crucial for combating bone density loss in astronauts. Customizing nutrient variations for astronauts ensures optimal health during missions
(Thomas et al., 2023).
Microbial analysis
A food product cannot assist the host therapeutically unless it contains at least 10
3 CFU/mL live bacterial colonies when consumed. The microbial analysis of the prepared sample of strawberry and finger millet yogurt mix were found to be 72 x 10
3 CFU/ml of total bacterial count and the total yeast, mold and coliform count were found to be negligible. Similar studies (
Mat Sarif et al., 2022) underline the need of keeping bacterial counts within permissible ranges to ensure food safety and quality. This is in alignment with observations in which yogurt formulas, such as those in T1 to T4 which is depicted in Table 3 often have zero counts of yeast, mold, and coliforms, indicating hygienic production standards critical for customer safety
(Plessas et al., 2024). The results have showed that the decrease in colony count was visible with the addition of strawberry slurry. The treatment T4 which is the control group have found to be shown with a slightly higher colony count than the treatments T2 and T3 which showed the impact of enrichment. This shows that the microbial counts have been on negligible number accounting to the shelf stability of the space food
(Grasso et al., 2020).
Sensory analysis
The results of the sensory analysis done by nine-point hedonic scale that have been displayed in Table 4, have showed that the treatment 3 was discovered to be the most preferred in terms of color, flavor, taste, appearance, texture and overall acceptability (
Mariam and Kumari, 2024). The samples were given after being reconstituted in hot water (7 g/50 mL). The colour of the treatments T3 and T4 were found to be acceptable than the treatments T1 and T2. While the flavor and appearance of the yogurt treatments, T1 and T3 scored high, the taste of the treatment T3 remained highly scored. Finally, the overall acceptability of the Treatment T3 scored higher than the rest of the treatments. A similar study by (
Katke and Deshpande, 2022) showed better overall acceptability with psyllium husk incorporated frozen probiotic yogurt. The selected treatment was given to further analysis
(Plessas et al., 2024).
Statistical analysis
One of the most used techniques for comparing treatment means is the Duncan’s multiple range test (DMRT)
(Shankar et al., 2022). One method for testing an experimental hypothesis is the Tukey test. It is activated when there is a mutually statistically significant interaction between three or more factors, which regrettably isn’t just the sum or product of the significance levels of the individual variables (
Zajác et al., 2020). The chart compares the sensory evaluation of different yogurt mix formulations (T1, T2, T3, T4) based on color, flavor, texture, appearance, taste, and overall acceptance (OA). T3 consistently ranks higher in sensory attributes like appearance and overall taste, indicating the formulation was more preferred by judges in comparison to T1 and T4, which scored lower in key parameters. The highest ranking in overall acceptance was observed for T3. This suggests that T3, with its balanced sensory properties, is the most favorable among the formulations tested, making it the most acceptable formulation for astronaut consumption based on taste and sensory appeal which are displayed in Fig 4 (
Tavakoli and Mokhtarian, 2021).