Hossain Ma

Drying Characteristics of Asparagus Roots (Asparagus racemosus Wild.)

This article presents the drying characteristics of asparagus roots of different shapes and sizes under blanched and nonblanched conditions using a hybrid solar dryer and mechanical tray dryer at three temperature levels of 50, 60, and 70°C. The drying rate increases with the increase in drying air temperature, and blanching also increases the drying rate. The drying rate also depends on shape and size of the asparagus roots. The highest drying rate was found for sliced samples followed by split and whole root samples. The drying rate was extremely low for the whole asparagus roots. Cream color of asparagus roots remained almost unchanged after drying but the brightness increased. The quality change of the dried products in terms of color change was not significant in the temperature range of 50 to 70°C. Five thin-layer drying models were fitted to the experimental data of blanched and sliced asparagus roots. The Page equation was found to be the best followed by Midilli et al.[ 33 ] The agreement between the predicted and experimental results was excellent.

Determination of Protein, Lipid and Carbohydrate Contents of Conventional and Non-Conventional Feed Items Used in Carp Polyculture Pond

A study was conducted during April’2010-September’2010 with a view to compare the protein, lipid and carbohydrate contents in conventional and non-conventional feed items and to recommend suitable strategy in selecting feed item for the development of weed based fish farming in carp polyculture pond. The experiment was carried out at the Protein and Enzyme Research Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Rajshahi University, Rajshahi. Six different conventional and non-conventional fish feed items like rice bran, wheat bran, mustard oilcake, Azolla, grass and banana leaves were tested to determine the nutrient contents under 6 treatments as T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6, respectively. In this study, nutrient contents (protein, lipid and carbohydrate) were monitored monthly. Significant variations (P<0.05) were found in the mean values of nutrient contents with different treatments of feed items but in case of same feed item no significant difference was found in the nutrient content at different months. Among the non-conventional feed items treatment T4 (Azolla) varied more significantly (P<0.05) for the mean values of protein content. Findings indicated that Azolla was more nutritive and low cost effective diets for fish farming in Bangladesh.