IDENTIFICATION OF SUITABLE PROCESSING APPROACHES FOR IMPROVING NUTRIENT AVAILABILITY IN Ipomoe batatas

Abstract

The research focuses on identification of suitable processing approaches in white sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are good source of vitamins and antioxidants particularly beta carotene which is a precursor to vitamin A and other carotenoids. In this research work, unpeeled sweet potatoes obtained from Kano, Katsina and Niger state were investigated for their Vitamins, Anti-nutrients, Minerals and Proximate composition. The method employed include the use of standard analytical technique in the assessment of the various samples obtained from these processing methods: oven drying, shed drying, sun drying of fresh sweet potatoes samples, also samples of fresh sweet potatoes were fermented for 48hours and sun dried. Samples were analysed in triplicate. The range of result obtained for proximate analysis under various processing conditions include: moisture (6.0±1.7) – (8.5±0.8), Ash (4.3±0.8) - (5.2±1.3), crude protein (7.2±0.1) - (8.2±0.5), crude lipid (4.2±0.0) - (4.8±0.2), crude fibre (4.8±0.3) - (5.0±0.8), carbohydrate (68.6±0.4) - (72.4±3.0). From the result of the analysis, the sundried sample has the least moisture, ash, and crude fibre content. While the fermented sample has the least crude protein and crude lipid content. The oven dried sample were found to have the least carbohydrate content of (68.6±0.4).The result of the anti-nutrients shows that Oxalate were the highest in Oven dried (3.6±0.3).And tannins has the highest value in sun dried (4.0±2.0).The shed dried has the highest oxalate, phytate, trypsin, tannins, nitrate and cyanide levels when compared with other processing method. The fermented sample has the least cyanide content of (0.1±0.0), which is about 50% lower than what is obtained in other processing methods.

In conclusion, the various processing methods used in this research might be effective in preserving the nutrients as well as reducing the risk of spoilage and increasing the shelf life of processed sweet potatoes.