Sensory Evaluation and Feasibility Report of Plantain Sandwich for Nigerian Market

Protein-energy malnutrition is a common nutritional disorder in developing countries and constitutes a major public health problem in young children and elderly people. This project is aimed at evaluating the acceptability of plantain-peanut sandwich and roasted at different temperatures. A plantain-peanut sandwich consists of minced protein stuffed into a carbohydrate source made into a roll as a food product. The plantain was roasted at two different temperatures than later enriched with 5%, 10% and 15% peanut butter. The crude protein and crude fibre contents of the plantain samples roasted at 200oC and 240oC showed no significant difference (P˃0.05) while the ash, fat and carbohydrate contents showed that there was a significant difference (P˂0.05). The results of the proximate composition showed that there was a significant difference (P˂0.05) at the two different roasting temperatures of 200oC and 240oC when enriched at 5%, 10% and 15% levels with peanut butter. This pattern of significant increase was also observed with the amino acid profiles at the two different roasting temperature levels. The sensory evaluation record shows that the mean scores for the appearance, taste, colour, aroma, mouthfeel and overall acceptability of the enriched roasted samples varied, but the plantain roasted at 240oC enriched with 15% peanut butter had the highest acceptability level. A feasibility study was carried out to investigate the possibility of producing and marketing a plantain-peanut sandwich. The study revealed that a starting point of 60 packs at 4 fingers per pack sold at 600 Naira per day gave an estimated turnover of 9 million Naira per annum. A breakeven point analysis revealed that a price break even point of 19.14% is feasible while a product breakeven of 18.04% of the estimated annual sales of 15,000 packs is also feasible

Changes in FDNB-Available Lysine in Sprouted Cowpea

Cowpea a member of the legume family was sprouted to be able to improve its nutritive value especially the amino acids. Lysine, however, is highly venerable to process loss. One of the ways to determine the availability of the essential amino acids is to determine the available lysine. This study was geared not only in measuring the available amino acids, by determining the available lysine using the FDNB (Fluoro-di-nitro-benzene) extraction method, but to improve on the availability of these amino acids through germination. This method is also capable of removing the drudgery of animal study and faster to achieve the desired results

Effect of Processing on Total Amino Acid Profile of Maize and Cowpea Grains

During the processing of cereal grains, a substantial proportion of the nutrients are lost, most especially the proteins in the form of the smallest moiety called amino acids. The objective of this study is to investigate the proportional loss due to processing, in order to throw more light in external fortification of the processed grains as may be necessary for the future. This investigation carried out the amino acid profile of drum dried; freeze dried and spray dried products of processed maize and cowpea grains in order to establish the after effects of these processing methods on the amino acid profile of the residual products. The processed methods investigated have been reported to be ideal for the preservation of processed grains in the powdered forms and amino acids availability in the products will determine the final protein nutritional value of the processed food products

The Effect of Sprouting on the in Vitro Digestibility of Maize and Cowpea

Despite the high protein content of cowpeas, their maximum contribution to nutrition has not been fully exploited in many parts of the world because of the following problems: the presence of anti-nutritional factors, such as trypsin inhibitor, which are common with legumes; flatulence factors; low level of sulphur amino acids, particularly methionine; and, in many instances, the inconvenience involved in their long preparation into local dishes. Moreover, there is the problem of the beany off-flavour. Grinding treatments that break most of the cells and release the cell contents of raw legumes prevent the subsequent development of the characteristic beany flavor on cooking. An off-flavour develops when ground raw legumes are suspended in water probably because of mixing of the cell contents enzyme lipoxygenase and could be controlled by adjusting the pH of the slurry towards the acid side. Germination is widely claimed as a means of correcting nutrient deficiencies of particular seeds, especially through alterations in the amino acid balance of the proteins and enhancement of the content of vitamins. This wide belief is emphasized and investigated in this research. In maize, however, the various food enzymes exited during germination had already played vital roles in breaking down the higher molecular components to simple molecules especially protein, which eases the digestibility as depicted in this investigation

Sensory Evaluation and Feasibility Report of Plantain Sandwich for Nigerian Market

Protein-energy malnutrition is a common nutritional disorder in developing countries and constitutes a major public health problem in young children and elderly people. This project is aimed at evaluating the acceptability of plantain-peanut sandwich and roasted at different temperatures. A plantain-peanut sandwich consists of minced protein stuffed into a carbohydrate source made into a roll as a food product. The plantain was roasted at two different temperatures than later enriched with 5%, 10% and 15% peanut butter. The crude protein and crude fibre contents of the plantain samples roasted at 200oC and 240oC showed no significant difference (P˃0.05) while the ash, fat and carbohydrate contents showed that there was a significant difference (P˂0.05). The results of the proximate composition showed that there was a significant difference (P˂0.05) at the two different roasting temperatures of 200oC and 240oC when enriched at 5%, 10% and 15% levels with peanut butter. This pattern of significant increase was also observed with the amino acid profiles at the two different roasting temperature levels. The sensory evaluation record shows that the mean scores for the appearance, taste, colour, aroma, mouthfeel and overall acceptability of the enriched roasted samples varied, but the plantain roasted at 240oC enriched with 15% peanut butter had the highest acceptability level. A feasibility study was carried out to investigate the possibility of producing and marketing a plantain-peanut sandwich. The study revealed that a starting point of 60 packs at 4 fingers per pack sold at 600 Naira per day gave an estimated turnover of 9 million Naira per annum. A breakeven point analysis revealed that a price break even point of 19.14% is feasible while a product breakeven of 18.04% of the estimated annual sales of 15,000 packs is also feasible

Sensory Evaluation and Feasibility Report of Plantain Sandwich for Nigerian Market

Protein-energy malnutrition is a common nutritional disorder in developing countries and constitutes a major public health problem in young children and elderly people. This project is aimed at evaluating the acceptability of plantain-peanut sandwich and roasted at different temperatures. A plantain-peanut sandwich consists of minced protein stuffed into a carbohydrate source made into a roll as a food product. The plantain was roasted at two different temperatures than later enriched with 5%, 10% and 15% peanut butter. The crude protein and crude fibre contents of the plantain samples roasted at 200oC and 240oC showed no significant difference (P˃0.05) while the ash, fat and carbohydrate contents showed that there was a significant difference (P˂0.05). The results of the proximate composition showed that there was a significant difference (P˂0.05) at the two different roasting temperatures of 200oC and 240oC when enriched at 5%, 10% and 15% levels with peanut butter. This pattern of significant increase was also observed with the amino acid profiles at the two different roasting temperature levels. The sensory evaluation record shows that the mean scores for the appearance, taste, colour, aroma, mouthfeel and overall acceptability of the enriched roasted samples varied, but the plantain roasted at 240oC enriched with 15% peanut butter had the highest acceptability level. A feasibility study was carried out to investigate the possibility of producing and marketing a plantain-peanut sandwich. The study revealed that a starting point of 60 packs at 4 fingers per pack sold at 600 Naira per day gave an estimated turnover of 9 million Naira per annum. A breakeven point analysis revealed that a price break even point of 19.14% is feasible while a product breakeven of 18.04% of the estimated annual sales of 15,000 packs is also feasible

Extraction Of Fetal Electrocardiogram Using An Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy System

In this paper, adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) was used for the cancellation of maternal electrocardiogram (MECG) in fetal electrocardiogram extraction (FECG) from the composite abdominal electrocardiogram (AECG). This technique is used to estimate the MECG present in the abdominal signal of a pregnant woman. The FECG is then extracted by subtracting the estimated MECG from the abdominal signal. In the furtherance of extraction, MATLAB (version 7.6) was used to code the system in order to generate the maternal heartbeat signal and the fetal heartbeat signal which were added to form the measured signal. For the fetal heartbeat signal to be recovered from the interference (maternal heartbeat) signal, a reference signal (which is a clean version of the original maternal heartbeat signal) was introduced in the system. It is this signal that cancelled the maternal heartbeat signal in the measured signal, thereby leaving the fetal heartbeat signal as an error signal. However, though the recovered signal still contained some traces of the maternal heartbeat signal, performance of the soft computing technique applied is in terms of the capability of adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system in removing the overlapping between the MECG and the FECG signals. The results obtained show that this method is a simple and powerful means for the extraction of Fetal Electrocardiogram.   Keywords: Fetal Electrocardiogram Extraction (FECG), Neuro-fuzzy system, Noise Cancellatio

Spatial distribution patterns of the populations of two subterranean termites (Blattodea: Termitidae) in eucalyptus (Myrtales: Myrtaceae) plantations

The study was conducted in Afaka, Northern Guinea Savanna of Nigeria to determine the spatial distribution patterns of the populations of Ancistrotermes sp. and Microtermes sp. in Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh, Eucalyptus citriodora Hook, Eucalyptus cloeziana F. and Eucalyptus tereticornis Muell plantations. Spatial distributions patterns of the two termite species populations were determined using indices such as ratios of population variance to mean, Lloyd’s index, Green coefficient, Taylor power and Iwao’s regression models. The values of variance to mean ratios, Lloyd’s index and Green coefficient showed that the populations of both termite species had aggregated distribution pattern in all the Eucalyptus species plantations. The distribution patterns of Ancistrotermes and Microtermes differed using Taylor’s and Iwao regression models. The values of R2 in Taylor’s model ranged from 0.02 to 0.99 for Ancistrotermes sp. and 0.29 to 0.99 for Microtermes sp., while in Iwao’s model, R2 ranged from 0.10 to 0.96 for Ancistrotermes sp. and 0.08 to 0.98 for Microtermes sp. The information provided is vital to develop a sound pest management protocol for these termite species. Keywords: Spatial distribution, Ancistrotermes sp., Microtermes sp., Aggregated, Taylor’s model, Iwao’s mode

Optimization of in-situ Biodiesel Production from Raw Castor Oil-Bean Seed

Optimization of in-situ biodiesel production from raw castor oil-bean seed was carried out from raw castor bean oil seed (37.9% oil content) by alkaline catalyzed in-situ trans-esterification with Sodium hydroxide as catalyst and ethanol as the solvent in a laboratory batch processor.  Response surface methodology and central composite experimental design was applied to evaluate effects of reaction time (30 -120 min), alcohol/seed weight ratio (0.5 – 2.0), Catalyst amount (0.3 – 1.5%) and reaction temperature (40 – 70OC).  Catalyst amount, reaction temperature and time all had significant main effects (p < 0.05) while Alcohol-seed ratio had only slight effects on yield of castor biodiesel as a main effect but was significantly involved in interactions with other factors.  A modified statistical model comprised of all significant factors and interactions (p < 0.05) obtained by multiple regressions predicted that the highest yield of castor ethyl-ester was 99.5% of expressible oil at the following optimized reaction values; alcohol/seed weight ratio of 0.5, a catalyst./seed weight ratio of 1.31, reaction temperature of 60.33oC, and reaction time of 81.7minutes.  A Taguchi L9(3^4)  optimization experimental design used to confirm the modified model at optimum point and two other points within experimental region produced yield that was significantly comparable to model predictions at 95% confidence level using  a paired t-test. Measured properties of the castor ethyl-ester such as viscosity(5.78mm2/s), pour point (-21.5 oC), flash point (177.12 oC), calorific value (47.76MJ/kg), acid value (0.34 mg KOH/g) and cetane number (48.73) were within the ASTM standard D6751-02 but specific gravity. Keywords: Castor oil-bean seed, biodiesel, in-situ trans-esterification, response surface methodology, optimization, Castor ethyl-este

EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE AND PERCENTAGE OF INITIAL CATALYST ON THE IN-SITU PRODUCTION OF BIO-DIESEL FROM CASTOR OIL BEAN SEED USING RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY

The use of vegetable oil and animal fats for biodiesel production has recently become a great concern because of the competition with food materials.  As the demand for vegetable oil increase tremendously in recent years it has become impossible to justify the use of these oils for fuel production. In-situ trans-esterification process uses the oil (triglycerides) in the oil seed directly without the need for initial extraction as compared with the conventional trans-esterification. Castor oil bean seed contains between 35 and 55% oil and does not compete with food grade oil because of the seed’s toxicity. This study evaluated the effect of temperature and percentage of initial catalyst on yield of castor ethyl ester.  Raw castor oil bean seed kernel at moisture content of 4.68 % (db) was subjected to in-situ trans-esterification in a batch processor with ethanol as the solvent and sodium hydroxide as the catalyst.  Central composite design (CCD) of the Response surface methodology was applied to evaluate the main and interactive effects of initial catalyst amount (0.5 – 1.5%) and reaction temperature (40 – 70OC), on yield of castor ethyl-ester, at reaction time of 120 minutes and alcohol-seed weight ratio of 1:1.  A quadratic non-linear polynomial model was obtained to describe the effect of the factors on yield.  The model was significant (P< 0.05) with a non- significant Lack-of-Fit value (P< 0.05) and R2 value of 0.944. Second order response surfaces and contour plots obtained from the model revealed that initial catalyst amount was the more effective factors on yield while reaction temperature had less effect. The Temperature–percentage of initial catalyst interaction was small and negative, due to the combined effects of formation of by-products (soaps) and saponification. The biodiesel produced from ground castor oil bean seed during this study met the requirements of ASTM standard D6751-02 but specific gravity was higher than the ASTM standard confirming that biodiesel produced from castor bean seed using the in-situ technique can be used as replacement fuel for fossil diesel