Bread consumption pattern and the potential of orange-fleshed sweetpotato-composite bread in Ghana

Bread is consumed by most Ghanaians. Wheat flour and refined sugar are the main raw materials in bread making. These key raw  materials are imported, thereby causing the local currency to consistently lose value. Therefore, developing bread recipes with locally available raw materials such as root and tuber crops is of the essence. The study assessed bread consumption patterns in Ghana; potential consumer preference for orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) puree-wheat flour composite bread; consumers’ willingness to buy and bakers’ willingness to bake this composite bread. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted in four regions of Ghana: Accra, Ashanti, Northern, and Upper East regions; data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Consumers (n = 651) and bakers (n = 77) were randomly selected to participate in the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive scores procedure in IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20. Almost all the consumer-respondents (96.50%; n = 628) indicated that they eat bread. Based on the frequency of bread consumption, 54% of respondents consumed bread daily, 18% once a week and 28% twice or more per week. The preferred bread types across the regions were: tea, butter, and “sugar” bread. Respondents across the regions consumed at least one type of bread with tea bread being the most consumed in the Upper East (n = 153; 39.30%) and Northern (n = 58; 38%) regions.  However, butter bread was the most consumed in the Greater Accra (n =17; 36%) while consumerrespondents in the Ashanti region (n  = 24; 38.70%) indicated they consume more than one type. The least consumed bread type across all the regions was composite and  bran (brown) bread types. The consumers’ willingness to buy the OFSP-based bread further increased by 8.3% when they were  informed about the nutritional benefits of OFSPbased bread. Thus, the OFSP-based wheat flour composite bread could have a higherpotential of being adopted into the Ghanaian community irrespective of regional demarcation to increase dietary intake of vitamin A. This would contribute to efforts to find a sustainable way of increasing dietary intake of vitamin A, particularly children in Ghana. Key words: Baker, composite-bread, consumer, Ghana, orange-fleshed sweetpotato, puree, survey, vitamin

Sensory quality of orange-fleshed sweetpotato cultivars as affected by curing and household-level storage methods

A 2×2×3 factorial design was used to investigate the effect of two orange-fleshed sweetpotato cultivars, three curing treatments and two homestead storage methods on the general appearance, finger-feel firmness, sweetness and overall acceptability of boiled roots. The cultivars were Apomuden and Nane, and the two homestead storage methods were the sand box and the heap storage. In-ground curing (dehaulming) and field-piled curing, for seven days and then uncured treatment were the curing options investigated. A hedonic scale ranging from 1 = extremely dislike to 5 = like extremely was used. For cultivars, the sensory scores ranged from 3.20 to 3.84 (farming season I) and 3.32 to 3.93 (farming season II), indicating good consumer preference. Curing type significantly (p 0.05) in all sensory attributes in both farming seasons except for sweetness and the heap storage had significantly higher (3.84 vs. 3.47, p<0.0001; respectively) score relative to sand box in the first year. Apart from general appearance (3.64 vs. 3.32, p = 0.002) and finger-feel firmness (3.51 vs. 3.25; p = 0.006) in which females had a significantly higher score than males in the first farming season, all the other sensory attributes were similarly ranked by males and females for both years. In-ground and field-piled curing methods, there is increased consumer acceptability and it should be encouraged

Wound healing and dry matter content of orange-fleshed sweetpotato cultivars as influenced by curing methods

Curing in sweetpotato is a crucial pre- or postharvest practice that could guarantee improved shelf life,but rarely practised by sweetpotato farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, principally due to lack of knowledge. Wound healing ability of cultivars has been associated with good root storability. In this study, two orange fleshed sweetpotato cultivars (Apomuden and Nane) were either cured in-ground by dehaulming prior to harvest or field-piled over a seven-day period to study their responses to wound healing and changes in dry matter content. Apomuden is a low dry matter content(19%) variety in Ghana while Nane is a high dry matter content (27%) farmer cultivar under evaluation for formal release. A potato peeler was used to deliberately create the wounds on 21 storage roots. The curing treatment was applied and the subsequent post-treatment quality status of the storage roots was monitored daily over a seven-day period. Wound healing ability was scored as follows: 0 = no lignification, 0.5 = patchy lignification and1= complete lignification. Wound healing ability score was not significantly different for Apomuden and Nane (0.83,0.78, respectively; p = 0.120). However, storage roots curedby field-piled curing method resulted in significantly better wound healing ability than dehaulming (0.86, 0.75,respectively, p = 0.001). Over the seven-day curing period,Nane had a significantly higher and stable dry mattercontent compared with Apomuden (p = 0.008), whose dry matter content was lower and fluctuating. The field-piled curing resulted in higher (p = 0.020) dry matter content,24%, compared with in-ground curing (22%). The field piled curing method, which can easily be adopted by sweetpotato farmers, increased the dry matter content of the storage roots; therefore, it could potentially reduce the post-harvest losses in sweetpotato. The high dry matter content of Nane is a desirable root quality

Sand storage, extending the shelf-life of fresh sweetpotato roots for home consumption and market sales.

Uni-modal rainfall pattern has long dry spell wherein sweetpotato is scarce, expensive but cheap at harvest. The crop is mostly consumed, processed or sold. Extending shelf-life of roots is crucial for Malawi and Northern Ghana as the crop has high value. Trials were conducted in the countries at the community level. In the dry season, temperature is cool in Malawi while warm in Ghana, but thru harmattan, the night is cool with low relative humidity. In Malawi, orange-fleshed sweetpotato Zondeni var., white and yellow types were assessed in three types of storage, Afghan ventilated pit store, storage in dry sand of pit-steps, and of a granary. In Ghana, local moistened heap and sandbox were compared. In Malawi, weight losses were calculated relative to the quantity stored at start, it was not cumulative. At 1.5 months no significant difference was among treatments. By 3.5 months the pit-steps method emerged to be superior and continued to 6.5 months. Losses in granary were due to shriveling, in the pit-stepsdue to termites and rats, and in ventilated pit due to termites, rats and Java black rot. Sprouting was high in pit-steps, but it was simply removed and roots returned to storage. At 6.5 months, the beta-carotene of Zondeni roots was traceable. Farmers gained high price when selling them as roots were scarce. Women favored the pit-steps because it was manageable. In Ghana, the sandbox was superior to local moistened heap. Methods designed were suitable for home consumption, but will require modification for commercialization