Proximate composition and functional properties of banana flour at different ripening stages

Bananas commonly grow in tropical areas and have many health benefits derived from both the inner and outer parts of the fruit. The proximate composition and functional properties of banana flour with varying ripening stages of plantain banana fruit (green, green-yellow, yellow-green) were studied in this research. Banana was peeled prior to drying and milling into flour followed by starch extraction. Besides proximate analysis, the yields of the obtaining banana flour and starch, as well as the functional properties of starch such as solubility, swelling power, and pasting properties, were also determined. The total carbohydrate, crude fiber, and ash content tended to decrease with the ripening process, in contrast, fat, protein, and moisture content tended to increase over ripening. The amylose/amylopectin content of banana starch influenced the functional properties such as solubility, swelling, and pasting profiles. However, there were no significant differences in the chemical compositions and functional characteristics of banana flour compared with its ripening stage (P>0.05) based on Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric statistical tests. Indeed, the information about chemical characteristics and functional properties of banana flour and starch during fruit ripening is important for the banana fruit processing and their product quality assurance

Characterisation of Silica in Equisetum hyemale and its Transformation into Biomorphous Ceramics

Equisetum spp. (horsetail / “Schachtelhalm”) is the only surviving genus of the primitive Sphenopsids vascular plants which reached their zenith during the Carboniferous era. It is an herbaceous plant and is distinguished by jointed stems with fused whorl of nodal leaves. The plant has been used for scouring kitchen utensils and polishing wood during the past time due to its high silica encrustations in the epidermis. Equisetum hyemale (scouring rush) can accumulate silica up to 16% dry weight in its tissue, which makes this plant an interesting candidate as a renewable resource of silica for the synthesis of biomorphous ceramics. The thesis comprises a comprehensive experimental study of silica accumulations in E.hyemale using different characterisation techniques at all hierarchical levels. The obtained results shed light on the local distribution, chemical form, crystallinity, and nanostructure of biogenic silica in E.hyemale which were quite unclear until now. Furthermore, isolation of biogenic silica from E.hyemale to obtain hig

Kinerja Program Soil and Water Assessment Tools (SWAT) yang Dimodifikasi untuk Menduga Debit Sub-DAS Cimanuk Hulu

Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) merupakan sebuah model hidrologi yang dikembangkan di Amerika Serikat untuk menganalisis dampak dari perubahan tata guna lahan terhadap hasil air (debit) dan sedimentasi.  Model ini telah banyak diterapkan di Asia.  Akan tetapi, neraca air di dalam model SWAT menggunakan neraca air untuk tanaman yang ditanam pada lahan kering (up land) termasuk tanaman padi.  Di Asia, khususnya di Indonesia, tanaman padi umumnya ditanam di lahan sawah.  Untuk menyesuaikan dengan kondisi lahan sawah, model SWAT telah dimodifikasi dengan mengacu kepada algoritma sawah yang dikembangkan oleh Sakaguchi et.al. (2014).  Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengevaluasi kinerja model SWAT yang dimodifikasi untuk menduga debit Sub-DAS Cimanuk Hulu yang bersawah.  Hasil evaluasi menunjukkan bahwa model SWAT yang dimodifikasi dapat menduga debit relative lebih baik dibandingkan dengan modul SWAT original (tanpa algoritma sawah) yang ditunjukkan oleh nilai determinasi (R2) dan Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE).  Nilai R2 dari hasil kalibrasi model SWAT yang dimodifikasi, SWAT original lahan kering dan model SWAT pot-hole berturut-turut adalah 0.569, 0.494 dan 0.544.  Sedangkan nilai NSE dari hasil kalibrasi model SWAT yang dimodifikasi, SWAT original lahan kering dan model SWAT pot-hole berturut-turut adalah 0.521, 0.420 dan 0.50

Kinetics of Oil-in-Water Emulsion Stabilization using Lecithin and Biosilica

Oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion has been widely used in food emulsions such as mayonnaise, dressings, and sauces. However, O/W emulsion is inherently thermodynamically unstable and easily destabilizes with time. Synthetic polymeric emulsifiers have been commonly used to stabilize these emulsions. However, those synthetic emulsifiers may induce obesity and other unexpected side-effects. In this experiment, bio-emulsifier mixtures consisting of soy lecithin and bio-silica were combined to stabilize the o/w emulsion in order to obtain more healthful food emulsions with acceptable quality. Lecithin concentrations were varied from 0.05-1.5% and concentrations of pure bio-silica particles derived from rice husks were in the range of 0.5-3%. The effects of the concentrations of these emulsifier mixtures on the O/W emulsions stability were studied. Additionally, the effects of storage temperatures on the O/W emulsions stability in the presence of both lecithin and bio-silica were investigated. The kinetics parameters of resulting O/W emulsions were analyzed using zero and first order kinetic models. In general, emulsions destabilized with time and followed the first order kinetic model. The destabilization rates of emulsions in the presence of emulsifier mixture would decrease by approximately 25-50% as compared to the destabilization rates of emulsions in the presence of lecithin or bio-silica as their sole emulsifier. Variations of lecithin and bio-silica concentrations in the emulsifier mixtures were not significant to the O/W emulsions stabilization. Furthermore, destabilization rate constants of O/W emulsions stored at the refrigerated temperature were ~2 times lower than those stored at room temperature

Zero Order Degradation Rate of Vitamin C in Fresh Orange and Strawberry Juices without Any Preservatives during Storage

Fresh orange and strawberry are rich in vitamin C, which is an essensial nutrient to promote a healthy imunne system. Vitamin C is easily degraded through oxidation process into dehydroascorbic acid during storage. Therefore, it is important to study the factors influencing the degradation rate of vitamin C in fruit juices without any preservatives. The aims of this research were to study the kinetic degradation of vitamin C in fresh orange (concentrated and nonconcentrated) and strawberry juices during storage and how the temperature affects these kinetics. Fresh juices were stored at room, refrigerated and frozen temperature. The content of vitamin C in fresh juices were analyzed using direct iodometric titration. Kinetic study of vitamin C degradation for these juices were carried out under isothermal condition. The degradation rates of vitamin C in fresh fruit juices based on zero kinetic model were compared. At room temperature the degradation rates of vitamin C in strawberry juice were about ten times faster than those in the orange juice. At refrigerated temperature the degradation rates of vitamin C in orange and strawberry juices with sugar were twice lower than theirs without sugar addition

Proximate composition and functional properties of banana flour at different ripening stages (Kandungan proksimat dan sifat fungsional tepung pisang pada berbagai tingkat kematangan buah)

Bananas commonly grow in tropical areas and have many health benefits derived from both the inner and outer parts of the fruit. The proximate composition and functional properties of banana flour with varying ripening stages of plantain banana fruit (green, green-yellow, yellow-green) were studied in this research. Banana was peeled prior to drying and milling into flour followed by starch extraction. Besides proximate analysis, the yields of the obtaining banana flour and starch, as well as the functional properties of starch such as solubility, swelling power, and pasting properties, were also determined. The total carbohydrate, crude fiber, and ash content tended to decrease with the ripening process, in contrast, fat, protein, and moisture content tended to increase over ripening. The amylose/amylopectin content of banana starch influenced the functional properties such as solubility, swelling, and pasting profiles. However, there were no significant differences in the chemical compositions and functional characteristics of banana flour compared with its ripening stage (P>0.05) based on Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric statistical tests. Indeed, the information about chemical characteristics and functional properties of banana flour and starch during fruit ripening is important for the banana fruit processing and their product quality assurance

Study of the influence of ZnO addition on the properties of chitosan-banana starch bioplastics

Plastics have been widely used in our daily life due to their relatively low cost and practical uses. However, plastics are hardly degraded and thus creating lots of environmental problems. Bioplastics have been developed in order to replace the conventional plastics since they are easily degraded and environmentally friendly. In this research, chitosan-banana starch bioplastics were made with the ratio of 70:30 in the presence of 30% glycerol as the plasticizer. ZnO with varying concentrations of 1, 3, and 5% were added into the biopolymer mixtures before casting in order to improve their mechanical properties. It turned out that 3% ZnO significantly increased the bioplastics tensile strength up to ~36MPa. Vice versa, elongation and swelling percentage were decreased as ZnO concentrations increased. Bioplastics prepared with 3% ZnO were degraded within relatively short time in 90 min. These chitosan-banana starch bioplastics reinforced by ZnO seems quite promising to substitute some commercial conventional plastics

Regional Plannning Strategic of Irrigated Agricultural Land Convertion by Considering to The Irrigation System (Case Study : Cihea Irrigation System of Cianjur)

Regional development is targeted to make better growth in the rural area, by improving farmer’s welfare and minimizing the gap among the regions. In particular, the developement aims to increase farmers income percapita as an income indicators of developement in rural area. In the irrigation area, the regional development  can also increase the domestic revenue by providing value added program in this region. The existing regional plan (RTRW) of  Cianjur in 2013 –2031 a part of the study area (Cihea irrigation system) are planned to be converted in to  industrial area, it reaches 4209.903 ha. This research aims to provide an irrigation system based developement strategy for guiding to the implementation of the RTRW. In the irrigation system, there are water resources and agricultural activities, mostly in food comodities. These resources will be considered in the study in order to achieve the target of rural development as for the implemention of RTRW. In this research, it analyzed suply and demand of irrigation, based on water balance calculation and farm production, the prospective industrial area in the region for processing the  raw product of farming. As the result, The agricultural land convertion should be targeted into processing plant for rice and soy. By these scenarios, the water resources were able to irrigate area of 5484  ha with cropping pattern of rice-rice -secondary foodcrop as the minimum discharge occured in September its about 0.553 m3/second. The total production of this raw agricultural product  can be processed to rice snack and cereal beisde of rice, thus being able to gave rise in income of farmer to Rp2 461 706,- per planting season.based on spatial analyze, the area which is can be developed are Ciranjang, Sukaratu, Sindangjaya, Mekargalih, Bojongpicung, Kertajaya, dan Cibiuk