Effects of Chemical Peeling and Cultivars on the Antinutritional and Mineral Contents of Some Cassava Products

Abstract

The effects of chemical peeling and cassava cultivar on some antinutritional and mineral contents of chemically peeled cassava flours and starches were studied. Batches of (TMS01/1371yr, TMS91/02324, TMS92/0326, TMS97/4763, TMS97/2205, TMS30572) roots were peeled using three different methods: manual peeling, chemical peeling with either 10% NaOH followed by treatment with 3% citric acid, or 10% NaOH solution followed by treatment with 15% NaCl. Peeled roots were either chipped or processed into starch and oven dried at 65oC. Dried chips were processed into flour. Flours and starches were analysed to determine some of their mineral and antinutritional characteristics. Results showed that phytate levels decreased from 6.28 mg/g for fresh cassava roots to 0.10, 0.13 and 0.10mg/g in cassava flours obtained from manual, NaOH/citric acid and NaOH/NaCl peeled TMS 30572 roots respectively. The HCN contents of the peeled cassava flour ranged between 9.06 to 16.56 mg HCN equivalent/Kg. Peeling treatments resulted in reduction in the phytic and hydrogen cyanide contents of the cassava starches and significant increase in the Na content of some of the flours produced. Peeling with NaOH/citric acid resulted in cassava starch with higher calcium content (14.85, 14.51, 25.9 and 58.31 mg/100g) for TMS 92/0326, TMS 97/2205, TMS 97/4763 and TMS 1/1371yr cassava cultivars respectively.

Keywords: Cassava-roots, peeling-treatment, mineral, antinutritional, cassava-cultivar