Prem Prakash Srivastav

Effect of roasting process variables on in-vitro protein digestibility of bengalgram, maize and soybean.

Abstract The effect of roasting process variables (temperature and time of roasting) on in-vitro protein digestibility of roasted and ground bengalgram, maize and soybean were studied. Roasting resulted in a slight increase in the PD value. Statistical analysis using an analysis of variance technique showed that the effect of time of roasting on the PD value of bengalgram and maize was more than that of temperature of roasting. An opposite trend was observed in the case of soybean.

FT‐NIR spectroscopy: a rapid method for estimation of moisture content in bael pulp

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop FT‐NIR technique for determination of moisture content in bael pulp.Design/methodology/approach – Calibration and validation sets were designed for the conception and evaluation of the method adequacy in the range of moisture content 70 to 95 per cent (wb). The prediction models based on partial least squares (PLS) regression, were developed in the near‐infrared region (4,000‐2,500cm‐1). Conventional criteria such as the R2, the root mean square errors of cross validation (RMSECV), root mean square errors of estimation (RMSEE) as well as the number of PLS factors were considered for the selection of three pre‐processing (vector normalization, minimum‐maximum normalization and multiplicative scatter correction) methods.Findings – The best calibration model was developed with min‐max normalization (MMN) spectral pre‐processing (R2=99.3). The MMN pre‐processing method was found most suitable and the maximum coefficient of determination (R2) value of 0.993 was...

Energy consumption during manufacturing of different dairy products in a commercial dairy plant: A case study

The purpose behind the energy optimization and management for dairy plant is to control the energy consumption for getting the overall maximum efficiency. For a case study of energy consumption in manufacturing of dairy products, a multi-product dairy plant was selected. The product technology and dairy operations of different dairy products were explored under batch process to identify the high energy consuming centers termed as critical control point (CCPs). Various equations for heat and mass transfer, flow rate, electrical consumption, were used to find the actual utilities consumption (steam, water, electrical energy) in dairy operations. The data of this case study was compared with previous study and found that the energy conserving status was declining. It is, therefore, essential that existing plant should be well instrumented and plant manufactures be encouraged to give more accurate service consumption figures so that energy audit can be made accurately.

Optimization of environmental factors using RSM for Spirulina platensis cultivation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to optimize the environmental growth factors for maximum yield of biomass and protein content of Spirulina platensis var lonor.Design/methodology/approach – Central composite design with four independent variables (namely, Temperature (°C), Light intensity (μmol m−2 s−1), incubation period (days) and inoculum concentration (per cent)) and two dependent variables (namely, Biomass yield (g/L) and Protein content (per cent)) were used for designing the experiment. The quadratic model was selected for analysis of data using analysis of variance and optimization was performed using response surface methodology (RSM). Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) medium was used for growing the organisms.Findings – The predicted values of optimization showed that the maximum yield of dried biomass (1.13 g/L) and protein (57.45 per cent) were obtained at temperature of 33.6°C, light intensity of 67.50 μmol m−2 s−1, incubation period of 16 days and inoculum concentra...

Development of barnyard millet ready-to-eat snack food : Part II

Barnyard millet (BM) based hot air puffed product has less crispness. Oven toasting improves the crispness of the puffed, roasted or flaked food products. A ready-to-eat (RTE) puffed and toasted snack food product from BM was developed. Toasting experiments were designed using central composite rotatable design (CCRD) at varying temperature (84 – 126 o C) and time (10 – 30 min). There was significant reduction in moisture content, colour and hardness of toasted product with increase in toasting temperature and time whereas there was higher increase in crispness at lower levels but less increase at higher levels of toasting parameters. The influence of temperature was dominant over toasting time for all responses. Reduction in moisture content and improvement in microstructure of the product during toasting resulted in the significant increase in crispness. The process parameters were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). The quality attributes like moisture content, colour, crispness and hardness of the optimally toasted snack food were 0.046 kg kg -1 dm, 69.79, 18.45 and 362.64 g, respectively at the optimum temperature and time combination of 116.26 o C and 20.23 min, respectively. The total energy content of the BM snack food was 380.74 kcal per 100 g product.

Physical characterization of chironji (Buchanania lanzan) nut and kernels.

Buchanania lanzan (Chironji), a member of family Anacardiaceae contains a hard nut that on decortication yields kernel containing about 52 per cent oil and used as a substitute for olive and almond oil while the whole kernel is used in sweet-meals. Although, the chironji nuts and kernels have been used extensively but the printed literature on their physical and engineering properties is scarce. In the present study, attempt has been made to generate primary data on physical and engineering properties which could be used for developing processing machinery(s). The initial moisture content of chironji nuts and kernels was found to vary from 6.60 per cent to 11.07 per cent and from 2.77 per cent to 2.99 per cent (db), respectively. The mean length, width and thickness of chironji nuts were found to be 10.19, 9.12 and 7.32 mm, respectively while corresponding parameters for chironji kernels were 6.80, 5.01 and 4.66 mm. The sphericity and roundness of chironji nuts were found to be 81.85 per cent and 79.45 per cent, respectively while for kernel were 77.08 per cent and 76.41 per cent. The average chironji nut mass was 0.33 gand kernel 0.07 g.

Influence of temperature on vacuum drying characteristics, functional properties and micro structure of Aloe vera ( Aloe barbadensis Miller) gel

Jha R.K., Prabhakar P.K., Srivastav P.P., Rao V.V. (2015): Influence of temperature on vacuum drying charac teristics, functional properties and micro structure of Aloe vera ( Aloe barbadensis Miller) gel . Res. Agr. Eng., 61: 141–149. Aloe vera possesses therapeutic, antioxidant and some other functional properties. These properties may be affected by processing operations. The present study investigated the influence of operating temperature on vacuum drying char acteristics, functional properties and the inner solid structure of the fresh aloe vera gel. The gel was dried at a constant pressure of 720 mm Hg in the drying chamber at varying temperature of 30–60 ° C. The experimental data of moisture ratio of Aloe vera were used to fit different models and the effective moisture diffusion coefficients and activation en ergy were also calculated. The Page model was found to be the best fit to experimental data. The functional properties like water retention capacity, fat absorption capacity, and swelling of the dried product were studied and found to be decreased with increasing operating temperature. The damage to the inner solid structure was more pronounced at higher temperatures because of faster mass transfer through the pores of the solid. The best quality product was obtained when the temperature was maintained at 30°C.

Physicochemical and cooking quality inquisition of aromatic and non-aromatic rice cultivars locally grown by Indian farmers

T origin of weedy rice has long been a controversial issue and opinions on the origin of WR are greatly varied across the scientific community. As far as Sri Lankan WR ecotypes are concerned, a geographical pattern of distribution which associated with the wild rice and cultivated rice varieties in each climatic zone. Genetic diversity of 85 weedy rice eco-types, 60 cultivated rice varieties and 2 wild relatives distributed in wet, intermediate, dry zone were studied using 10 microsatellite (SSR) markers distributed across the rice genome. Total genomic DNA was extracted from 7-day old seedlings of respective WR eco-types, wild rice and cultivated types. A total of 10 SSR primer pairs were used for molecular study. Fragment analysis using capillary electrophoresis was performed and identified different peaks among WR eco-types and wild rice varieties. Obtained data were subjected to cluster (CA), principle component (PCA) and self-organizing map. Results of the PCA and CA indicated that SSR distribution across the weedy rice eco-types, cultivated rice varieties and wild relatives provide strong evidences supporting the hypothesis that the wild relative O. rufipogon and O. nivara ecologically diversified into wet and dry habitats, respectively. Thus, origins of the weedy rice eco-types are results of the spontaneous hybridization and out-crossing between wild relatives and cultivated rice varieties. Further, SOM imply that four out of 10 SSR primers (RM 211, RM 280, RM 14 and RM 44) are important in separation of different WR eco-types satisfactorily with minimum labor, time and cost.Bambara Groundnut though cultivated majorly by women, remains a crop of high value to some local communities. Field trials were conducted in the rainy seasons of 2010 and 2011 to assess the effect of weed control methods on the yield and profitability of bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranean (L.) Verdc) at Sabon Gari in the Northern Guinea Savannah of Borno State, Nigeria. The experiment was made up of eight treatments (weedy check, pendimenthalin only, pendimenthalin followed by one hoe weeding, butachlor only, butachlor followed by one hoe weeding, hoe weeding once, hoe weeding twice and hoe weeding thrice) all arranged in a randomnized complete block design (RCBD) and replicated three times. The weedy check and the plots that were treated with pendimenthalin only supported statistically similar weed dry matter in both years, which was significantly higher than the other treatments. In 2010, all the hoe weeded plots produced significantly grain yields than the weedy check and the herbicide treated plots except pendimenthalin followed by hoe weeding once. None of the herbicide treatments out-yielded the weedy check. In 2011, however, all the hoe weeding once and hoe weeding twice treatments out-yielded the hoe weeding trice treatment, although the difference was not significant. The result shows that bambara groundnut production was profitable in the two years of the study. The mean of the two years experiment shows that pendimenthalin followed by one hoe weeding had the highest net benefit of N60,875, while the least was recorded by butachlor followed by one hoe weeding (N17,494). The mean MRR indicate that hoe weeding once recorded 1.56 as the highest while the least was observed in hoe weeding thrice (0.42). It was therefore recommended that the weeds management methods be tried in larger field for economic impact, the application of pendimenthalin herbicide followed by one hoe weeding be studied further on bambara groundnut weeding practices.Findings: T. harzianum showed the biocontrol activity with the inhibition rate more than 60% against both G. boninense and F. oxysporum. The mode of biocontrol activity as process of mycoparasitism action is also observed under the scanning electronic microscope. The coiling of Trichoderma on the pathogens or shrinkage mycelium of the pathogen has proven Trichoderma’s biocontrol ability. At molecular level only for studies on Ganoderma-oil palm or Ganoderma-oil palmTrichoderma interactions showed that Trichoderma induced chitinase genes or enzyme in oil palm leaves or roots tissues as well as plant growth was also enhanced in the presence of Trichoderma.

Biological Agents in Fusarium Wilt (FW) Diagnostic for Sustainable Pigeon Pea Production, Opportunities and Challenges

Pigeon pea is one of the most important crops due to its high nutritional values especially in developing countries suffering from malnutrition and starvation. Severe loss of crops due to plant diseases is the prime cause of significant reduction in yield and threat to food security. Fusarium wilt (FW) of pigeon pea caused by Fusarium udum is listed as highly destructive disease causing huge loss. About 83 different fungal species including Fusarium fungi are contributing 100 % disease occurrence in pre pod stage and 67 % and 30 % at crop maturity and pre harvest stage respectively. The yield losses in pigeon pea indicate an extensive backdrop and hence, affect the productivity across the world. In India, total estimated loss is found to be approximately 97,000 ton per year. Outstanding efforts are being carried out by scientists and researchers to combat this fungal pathogen through biological control in both conventional and organic agriculture aiming to limit the crop loss and damage of plant health for sustainable food production. But, the technology and efforts are still in underway to find out the most suitable and best method to control the problem. Considering the milieu, this chapter emphasizes the ways and importance of biological control in diagnosis of FW as eco-friendly approach as well as the use of antagonistic microorganisms to combat the wilt diseases sustainably for higher agriculture production. It also explains the research challenges in use of biological agents, research opportunities in the development of innovative strategies to control this menace in a sustainable approach.

Design of LPG burner for hot air puffing machine

In puffing machines the hot air is produced either by burning liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or electric heaters to develop puffed ready-to-eat (RTE) product. In puffing machine the product is puffed in LPG flue gas mixed hot air based on the whirling bed principle. Therefore, to produce hot air by burning LPG, three non-premixed diffusion type burner configurations were designed to produce a stable blue flame with minimum soot length. In Type I burner of 20 cm length two concentric galvanized iron pipes-inner gas pipe of 2.7 cm (OD) and outer air pipe of 5 cm (OD) were used. The gas was introduced in the inner pipe of burner through copper pipe of 1.3 cm (OD) from outside. It works and produces the flame with an obstruction plate of diameter equal to inner burner pipe which was positioned in front of inner pipe for stability of flame. In experimental tests it was observed that flame do not catches when blower was started and forms a single jet unstable luminous (soot) flame at high air velocity. In Type II burner two steam pipes of diameter 4.7 and 2.7 cm (OD) were used for fabrication. In order to protect the flame from high velocity air, a truncated conical metal (cast iron) shield of 4.7 cm diameter was welded to the rim of air pipe. The Type II burner produced characteristic long blue flame and less soot length but there was soot formation in flame at relatively low air flow rates. To overcome the problem of flame instability and soot formation a third burner configuration was used. Three concentric steam pipes were used for Type III burner. It was observed that the secondary air from central pipe results in proper combustion, complete blue flame formation at the burner tip and better flame stability under variable air flow rates. In Type II and Type III burner, the flue gases of temperature ranging from 90 o – 300 o can be produced at gas flow rates from 7 – 22 lpm.