Keywords:Gari Cassava Root Storage Introduction. The research was carried out to evaluate the utilisation qualities of cassava roots stored in sawdust for gari production.Materials and methods. A completely randomised design was used to investigate the effect of storage time on the results of processing gari. Fresh cassava roots were stored in sawdust for 12 weeks and gari which is a cassava product was produced every two weeks. The proximate composition, chemical composition and functional properties of the gari were determined.Results and Discussion. Cassava major food product in Africa is gari, the latter covers about 70% of cassava use in human consumption. Cassava Manihot esculenta Crantz is a starchy root which is a highly perishable crop, it starts to deteriorate within two or three days after harvest if not stored or processed. This study investigates the quality of gari produced from stored cassava roots.The results show that there were significant differences in the proximate composition of gari samples in terms of the ash content, moisture content, fat content, fibre, protein and carbohydrate (p<0.05). The pH, TTA, HCN values of the gari ranged from 3.9 to 4.89, 0.77 to 0.9%, and 0.25 to 0.33mg/kg respectively. Also, there were significant differences (p<0.05) in the bulk density, water absorption capacity and swelling index, which ranged between 7.79 and 8.169g/cm 3 , 199.18 and 311.11ml/g, and 3.13 and 3.96, respectively.Conclusion. Cassava roots stored for about 12 weeks will still produce a good quality gari.
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