MSc

A study on "Value addition and evaluation of nutritional quality in
elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus p aeoniifolius (Dennst))" was carried out
at the Department ,of Processing Technology, College of Agriculture,
Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram during the period 1999-2001.
The objective of the study was to evaluate nutritional qualities of
amorphophallus cultivars, examine the potentiality of developing value
added products, to assess the storage and shelf life of prepared products.
The nutritional quality of corms and petioles of four cultivars ie.,
Sree Pad ma, Vellayani local, Pathanamthitta local and Kottarakkara local
were evaluated. Corms ofPathanamthitta local had highest starch, vitamin C
and protein content. Sree Padma recorded the maximum total sugar and
crude fibre. Calcium oxalate content was least in the corms of Sree Padma
and Pathanamthitta local. Organoleptic quality score was highest in
Pathanamthitta local. In case of petioles, Pathanamthitta local had highest
protein content and organoleptic ~core. Sree Padma recorded the highest
total sugar content while Kottarakkara local had the maximum vitamin C and
crude fibre content.
Value added products like chips and traditional snack items viz.,
murukku, wafers and papads were prepared. Chips were prepared by two
techniques ie. frying of fresh slices ,parboiling and frying.



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It was found that oil uptake increased with increasing thickness and
parboiling was an effective method to reduce oil uptake. Oil intake was
lowest in Pathanamthitta local. Moisture content increased with thickness.
Freshly fried chips had higher moisture content than parboiled chips. Starch
and total sugar content increased with increasing thickness. Parboiled chips
had lesser total sugar content. Highest scores for organoleptic quality was
recorded in chips made from Pathanamthitta local. Two mm thick chips were
the most preferred while, freshly fried chips had higher organoleptic score
than parboiled chips.
The evaluation of flour prepared from Amorphophallus revealed
that, with increasing temperatures and drying periods, moisture content
decreased. Flour dried at 75°C for 18 hours was judged as the best due to
low moisture content and good colour.
The evaluation of secondary products viz., murukku, wafers and
papads revealed that murukku and wafers prepared from the flour of
Pathanamthitta local had the highest score while papads made from flour of
Sree Padrna scored the highest.
Storage studies of the products revealed the changes in starch, total
sugars, moisture content and organoleptic quality. Starch content declined
on storage while total sugar and moisture content increased slightly. Glass
and PET bottles gave better storage results than LOPE bags. The moisture
and total sugar content increased more rapidly in LDPE bags than glass and

PET bottles during storage. Papads exhibited a shelf life of only 30 days
after which they were subjected to mould attack. Organoleptic quality score
was highest for all the products stored in glass bottles than PET bottles and
LDPE bags.