Preliminary Quality Evaluation of Selected Plantain Flour (Musa Paradisiaca) Sold in Port Harcourt Markets, Nigeria

Post harvest loss is a major problem limiting the production of plantain. In recent years, farmers and plantain processors have adopted processing of plantain into flours as a means of market diversification and consequently curtailing glut. This made different varieties of plantain flour with diverse nutritional composition to be sold in the markets. This preliminary study therefore aimed at evaluating the quality of selected plantain flour sold in Port Harcourt markets, Nigeria. In this study, selected physico-chemical analyses were evaluated. The moisture content, crude protein, starch, fat content and bulk density of the plantain flour samples used ranges between 7.20% - 13.92%, 4.75% - 9.84%, 60.41% - 67.85%, 0.84 % - 1.22% and 0.64g/ml – 0.73g/ml respectively. The samples were stored for four months. No insect infestation was observed during the storage period but mould growth was observed by the fourth month in all the samples except the reference sample. Keywords: Plantain flour, quality evaluation, shelf life, nutritional compositio

Quality Attributes of Heat Treated Cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta) Flour

Cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta), a staple food and a food thickner has a small starch grains and improved digestibility. In view of adding value to cocoyam, this study investigated the effect of different processing methods on the quality of cocoyam flour. In this study, cocoyam samples were given different heat treatments and milled into flour. The moisture content of the flour samples ranged between 7.85% - 18.75%. Protein content was between 3.48% - 12.60%. Loose bulk density ranged between 0.77g/cm3 – 0.83g/cm3 initially and 0.45g/cm3 – 0.56g/cm3 finally. Starch content ranged from 16.06% - 52.84%. The control sample that has no heat treatment has the highest value of overall acceptability. Keywords : Cocoyam, digestibility, heat treatment and value additio

Selected Chemical Composition and Acceptability Assessment of Pre-treated Dehydrated Telfairia Leaves

Telfairia leaves were harvested fresh, sliced and subjected to different blanching pre- treatments tests - in boiling water, steam, sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate solutions before drying in a multipurpose produce drier (40-500C) for preservation. The control portion was dehydrated without any pre-treatment. All the dehydrated test portions were analyzed for proximate composition (moisture, crude protein, crude fat, crude fibre, ash and carbohydrate), microbial quality and sensory acceptability assessments. Dehydrated steam-blanched and water- blanched leaves had relatively lower moisture content (13.75 – 13.99%). Leaf nutrients (crude protein, crude fat and ash) concentrated relatively more in the steam blanched dehydrated leaves. No microorganism was detected in all the dehydrated treated and untreated test portions. Process treatments reduced the sensory acceptability rating of the dehydrated leaves as the untreated control portions were better accepted by assessors. Keywords: Telfairia leaves, Blanching, Dehydration, Acceptability

Ascorbic acid retention of freshly harvested seven Nigerian green leafy vegetables after soaking in water

Vitamins are micronutrients needed in the body for important biologic functions. The current study examined the influence of steeping on vitamin C retention of seven Nigerian vegetable leaves after soaking for 8 h. One kilograme each was purchased and 6 lots of 100 g were sorted out, cleaned and treated as follow; whole leaf 1, whole leaf 2, sliced leaf 1, sliced leaf 2, sliced and salted leaf 1 and sliced and salted leaf 2. Each of the treatments 1 was soaked in 1 litre of distilled water while each of treatments 2 was soaked in 2 litres of distilled water. All treatments were kept for 8 h while monitoring the trend of reduction in vitamin C contents at 2 h intervals. Moisture (%) was determined following AOAC (2002) methods while dry matter content was estimated from moisture by calculating the difference. Ascorbic acid content (mg/100 g) was determined following the method of Ndawula et al. (2004). Result showed that; moisture, dry matter, and ascorbic acid contents of raw leaves ranged from 67.63–86.70%, 13.30–32.37%, and 103.00–1199.23 mg/100g respectively. During soaking, ascorbic acid retained by the seven green vegetables reduced as follows; 73.39–24.26% (Amaranthus viridis), 100.26–19.62% (Gnetum africanum), 129.05–27.72% (Gongronema latifolium), 66.84–7.55% (Ocimum gratissmum), 42.59–4.14% (Piper guinense), 77.38–10.26% (Pterocapus mildbedii) and 120.02–17.97% (Telfaria occidentalis). The study showed that ascorbic acid retention (%) of seven Nigerian green vegetable leaves decreased with increasing soaking duration

Analysis of basic fibroblast growth factor in rats with inherited retinal degeneration

In RCS rats, photoreceptors degenerate between postnatal days 20 and 60, secondary to a genetic defect expressed in the neonatal retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE). Previous work has shown delay of the photoreceptor degeneration in this model by intraocular injection of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). Evidence is presented here, from bFGF immunostaining and Northern analysis of bFGF mRNA, for reduced bFGF expression in uncultured RPE of dystrophic RCS pups. It is also shown that in the mutant eyes angiogenesis in the underlying choroid, which normally occurs between postnatal days 7 and 10, is markedly delayed, with irregular distribution of vessels, consistent with a reduction in this known angiogenesis factor. Mutational analysis of the bFGF transcript and gene by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and Southern analysis did not, however, reveal abnormalities in the coding sequence of this gene in RCS rats