Engineering and bio‐chemical properties of asparagus roots (Asparagus racemosus L.)

Abstract

The post‐harvesting procedures, such as grading, washing, transporting, and packaging can be made better with understanding of the attributes of agricultural commodities. The paper aims to estimate the asparagus roots' thermal, physical, and biochemical characteristics. The asparagus was found to vary in the range of 6.26–13.60 cm long. The width and thickness of the root were almost the same and ranged from .69 to 1.10 cm. The bulk density, true density, and porosity ranged from .561 to .771 g/cm3, 1.418 to 2.124 g cm3, and 60.437 to 63.689%, respectively. The water activity of the roots was observed to be in the range of .797–.828. The color characteristics of asparagus roots were found to be L* = 45.46, a* = 6.94, and b* = 23.23. The obtained values of the following thermal variables were: thermal diffusivity = 8.176 × 10−8 m2/s, thermal conductivity = .493 W/m °C, specific heat = 3.424 kJ/kg °C, and latent heat = 23442.74 J/kg. The total phenolic and tannin content in the roots were observed to be 24.41 ± .09 mg of gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g and 1.73 ± .06 mg of tannic acid equivalent (TAE)/g, respectively. The flavonoid content in the roots was 10.33 ± .04 mg of quercetin equivalent (QE)/g. The root samples were found to be a high capacity to scavenge free radicals and also contain phytochemical components that may prove valuable in future research to combat oxidative stress. The findings of this study will also be advantageous in developing handling and processing equipment for the industrial production of asparagus root products.Practical applicationsAsparagus is a medicinal plant which is now widely used in food processing to produce the fortified‐functional food products because of its high nutritional and medicinal properties. The grading, sorting, conveying, pulping, processing, and handling equipment for various horticultural goods, including asparagus, are designed using machine designing parameters, which are vital and essential parameters. The size and shape of all agricultural commodities varies. The slight modifications to size and form could reduce the effectiveness of numerous procedures and their associated machinery. Therefore, the knowledge about these engineering and biochemical properties of asparagus will inspire researchers to create and upgrade machinery used for grading, sorting, conveying, pulping, and processing.