No abstract

The thin layer drying characteristics of dika kernels and nuts were investigated at four drying temperatures of 50, 60, 70 and 80 1C and the data was fitted to drying models. Non-linear regression analysis was used to determine model parameters, while coefficient of determination (R 2 ) and standard error of estimate (SEE) formed the basis for determining the model of best fit. The Modified Henderson-Pabis drying model gave the best fit for the dika kernels while the two term model was best for the dika nuts. Effective moisture diffusivity ranged from 2.84 Â 10 À 10 m 2 /s to 5.06 Â 10 À 11 m 2 /s for the kernels and from 1.22 Â 10 À 10 m 2 /s to 2.03 Â 10 À 10 m 2 /s for the nuts. The activation energies of dika kernels and nuts were 16.747 kJ/mol and 37.019 kJ/mol respectively. & 2015 Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universitie. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

No abstract

A b s t r a c t. The effect of preprocessing conditions such as moisture content, heating temperature, heating time and particle size on oil point pressure of Indian almond kernel was investigated. Results showed that oil point pressure was significantly (P < 0.05) affected by above mentioned parameters. It was also observed that oil point pressure reduced with increase in heating temperature and heating time for both coarse and fine particles. Furthermore, an increase in moisture content resulted in increased oil point pressure for coarse particles while there was a reduction in oil point pressure with increase in moisture content for fine particles.K e y w o r d s: Indian almond kernels, oil point pressure, oil expression, preprocessing

Tomato fruit is a perishable farm produce with high moisture content. Despite its valuable qualities, the fruits are subjected to wastage and spoilage during its seasonal period. The study was therefore conducted to investigate some physical properties of local variety of tomatoes that are relevant in the handling and processing of the fruits. The physical characteristics considered were axial dimensions, weight, volume, density, surface area and sphericity. The mean dimensions of the fresh fruits specifically were longitudinal diameter (5.06 cm); transverse diameter (4.48 cm) and thickness (2.92 cm). The weight, volume, surface area and sphericity were 50.44 g, 4.6 cm 3 , 23.31 cm 2 and 80.05 % respectively. The true and bulk densities were 10.96 g/cm 3 and 0.71 g/cm 3 respectively. The thin layer drying characteristics of whole tomato fruits were also investigated at temperatures 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 o C. Fruit samples were also sun dried. The quality of oven and sun dried products were analyzed for nutritional contents (protein, crude fibre, ascorbic acid and carotene) and antioxidant (lycopene). The statistical analysis of the nutritional constituent was also carried out. Drying time decreased from 30 to 24 hrs as drying temperature increased from 40 to 80 o C. The nutritional values of oven dried products such as protein (1.51%), ascorbic acid (17.06 mg/100), crude fibre (2.25 %), carotene (0.46 mg/100), phenol (14.18 mg/100) and lycopene (12.95 mg/100) while the values of sun dried products were 0.52 %, 11.75 mg/100, 0.93 %, 0.14 mg/100, 6.91 mg/100 and 5.91 mg/100 respectively. The statistical analysis shows that the result were statistically significant (P<0.05).