Postharvest Preservation Technology of Cereals and Legumes

Cereals and legumes are prone to perishability and have very short shelf-life if not given proper treatment. During different handling and marketing operations, there is a huge postharvest loss of agricultural produce. The qualitative and quantitative losses incurred in cereals and legumes commodities between harvest and consumption are huge. Qualitative losses such as loss inedibility, nutritional quality, calorific value, and consumer acceptability of fresh produce are much more difficult to assess than are quantitative losses. The major cause of postharvest loss (PHL) is the availability of poor infrastructure for postharvest technology (PHT) and processing of commodities. These losses can only be minimized by proper handling, marketing, and processing of the agricultural commodities; as well as the use of modern preservation technologies such as irradiation, radio frequency heating, etc. The sufficient knowledge of pre-and post-harvest preservation technologies and the provision of adequate and sufficient storage facilities for cereals and legumes handling and distribution would help to mitigate the incidence of postharvest deterioration and therefore improve the availability of cereals and legumes in the market and subsequent reduction in malnutrition for increased food security. Postharvest preservation technology of cereals and legumes is very fundamental in reducing postharvest losses and increasing food security

Processing of Oilseeds in the Tropics: Prospects and Challenges

Oilseeds have been cultivated from antiquity with increasing demand in agricultural industries world trade. Many economies such as Malaysia depend largely on oilseed crops which are grown primarily for the edible oil production; and for additional meal fraction arising from the seed. The meal is rich in protein and used for animal feed. Recent developments in research have posited oilseeds as a viable source for the production of biodiesel. In the tropics, most of the oilseeds are underutilized; and interest in its mass production and utilization are lacking. Some other seed such as neem seeds, pawpaw seeds, Jatropha curcas L. seeds, etc. have not been put to use in tropical countries leading to subsistence production and their applications in other areas. The oilseed crops could be used either for human, animal or for industrial purposes. There is need to increase the volume of production of these oils in tropical countries through improved quality farming techniques that would encourage breeding in other to meet up with increasing demands. Notably, there are many conventional methods that have been used to increase oilseeds yields. However, the adoption of each technology improvement should be sustainable, while other unknown oilseeds should be discovered for increased utilization

Production and Physicochemical Properties of Cake with Different Ratios of Soy Lecithin

This research was geared towards producing and evaluating the physicochemical properties of cake with different ratios of soy lecithin. Soy lecithin was produced by the degumming of raw soy oil by adding 2% water content to the oil and heating to 70oC. Soy oil yield was 31% while lecithin yield was 2.18%. The soy lecithin produced had a yellow-brownish colour. Mixture design was used for the experiment. The soy lecithin was used to replace 50% and 100% egg content in two different cake samples while a third sample had no lecithin. The first sample was made up of 250g wheat flour, 100g Margarine, 65g sugar, 5g baking powder, 2 eggs, 1.25g soy lecithin and 2g salt (MEL2), the second sample was made up of 250g wheat flour, 80g Margarine, 65g sugar, 5g baking powder, 2.5g soy lecithin and 2g salt (MEL3) while the third sample was made up of 250g wheat flour, 100g Margarine, 65g sugar, 5g baking powder, 4 eggs and 2g salt (MEL1). The margarine content of sample MEL3 was reduced by 20%. The physical properties of the cake samples were examined and sample MEL2 gave a better physical appeal than the other samples after baking. The specific volume of sample MEL2 (4.21cm3) was higher than those of samples MEL1 and MEL3. The proximate composition of the samples showed that the moisture content ranged from 32.9 – 34.1%, protein content 5.89 – 6.14%, ash content 1.61 – 1.64%, fat content 14.5 – 15.3% and carbohydrate 43.09 – 44.85%. Sensory evaluation was carried out on the samples to determine the most acceptable and analysis of variance was used to check for significant difference. Sample MEL2 was preferred in taste, colour, texture, flavour and general acceptability and was significantly different from samples MEL1 and MEL3 in general acceptability. It was observed that egg and some fat content in cakes could be replaced with soy lecithin. This study forms a basis for new product development for the pastry food industry

COMBATING POLITICAL ASSASSINATION

Abstract The study sought to find out the opinion of the female lecturers on the identified inhibiting factors on women"s effective participation in politics. The design of the study was a descriptive survey. The study was carried out in the University of Nigeria Nsukka. The population of the study is 90 women lecturers in the faculty of education. Eleven items questionnaire was constructed to elicit information from the respondents on a four point rating scale of strongly agree, Agree, Disagree and Strongly disagree. Data was analyzed using mean to answer research question. Based on the findings of the study the following conclusion and recommendations among others were made: There is need for paradigm shift from mere constitutional provisions to effective policy implementation on matters effecting women"s effective participation in politics, Government through National Commission for Women and other relevant agencies should plan for very-active enlightenment programmes aimed at re-orientation of women ideology about themselves in all spheres of life

Investigation of functional and sensory properties of plantain flour in citric acid

Purpose: This study investigated the effects of process variables on the proximate, functional, and sensory properties of plantain flour. Research Methodology: The plantain fruit was sorted and hand-peeled using kitchen knives. It was then cut into various slices of 2 – 6 mm and steeped in citric acid solutions with concentrations ranging between 1 – 5 %. The steeping time varied between 30 – 120 min. The pretreated plantain slices were processed into flours. Process parameters were analyzed using the response surface methodology of Design Expert software. Results: The proximate parameters of the flour samples showed no significant difference (p > 0.05), but there were significant effects (p< 0.05) on the functional and sensory properties of the flour samples. The functional properties were found to differ significantly. Limitation: This study did not consider the application of other optimization methods such as genetic algorithm and particle swarm optimization in estimating the optimum points. Future studies could focus on these areas. Contribution: The validation of the optimization processes showed success in the application of citric acid in the production of novel plantain flour

Maternal smoking during pregnancy: trends and determinants in the conception to community study

Background: Despite earlier declines, maternal smoking during pregnancy continues to be a public health problem. We examined trends and factors associated with maternal smoking during and between pregnancy over six years.Methods: Participants were 27 532 pregnant women in Tasmanian public hospitals whose smoking status was gathered by midwives during perinatal care between July 2008 and June 2014. Generalized linear modeling was used to examine the trends in prevalence of maternal smoking over time and factors associated with change in smoking status both within and between pregnancies.Results: Smoking during pregnancy decreased from 25.9% in 2008 to 16.4% in 2014 (57.9% decline). Multivariable regression analysis suggested that maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy, living in a highly socioeconomically disadvantaged area, and being an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander significantly increased the risk of maternal smoking during pregnancy. Being older, married, or in a de facto relationship, and intending to breastfeed were associated with reduced risk of smoking during pregnancy. Between index (first birth recorded in data set) and last pregnancy, 35.1% of smokers quit, but 5.1% of nonsmokers started smoking. Only 8.1% of mothers who smoked during the first half of pregnancy quit by the second half.Conclusions: Maternal smoking during pregnancy is decreasing. To sustain the decline, preventive efforts must address the role of social determinants of health (eg, mothers who drink alcohol, live in highly disadvantaged areas, are younger and single) among women who smoke during pregnancy