Modeling and Optimization of Rehydration Percentage of Magnetic Field Pretreated Sweet Pepper and Fluted Pumpkin Leaf
Authors: Odewole MM, Falua KJ, Oyelere PG, Johnson AA
DOI Info: N/A
ABSTRACT
This study focused on the effect of magnetic field pretreatment on rehydration percentage of sweet pepper (Capsicum annum) and fluted pumpkin leaf (Telfaria occidentalis). Three types of magnetic field (static, alternating and pulsed) of strength range of 5-30 mT was generated using a magnetic field (MF) device. Sweet pepper (SP) and fluted pumpkin leaf (FPL) used for the study was pretreated for a duration of 5-25 minutes. Fresh and blanched SP and FPL samples were used as control and all samples were oven-dried at 50 oC. Results revealed that sweet pepper pretreated under AMF-6 (14 mT and 5 min) and PMF-6 (19 mT and 10 min) had the highest and lowest rehydration percentages of 80.52% and 62.69% respectively compared to blanched and fresh samples with rehydration percentages of 73.12% and 65.25%. For fluted pumpkin leaf, the highest (77.78%) and lowest (60.00%) rehydration percentages were obtained at PMF-7 (24.5 mT and 15 min) and SMF-6 (19 mT and 10 min) respectively compared to blanched and fresh samples with rehydration percentages of 64.29% and 66.67% respectively. Model equations developed showed that R2 and R2adj values are in the range from 86% to 100% for both SP and FPL while the adequate precision (AP) was greater than 4. The best optimized conditions for SP and FPL are AMF (5.56 mT and 25 min) and AMF (10.42 mT and 9.96 min) respectively. MF pretreatment (a non-thermal) method enhances rehydration percentage of SP and FPL than blanching (thermal) method.
Affiliations: Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, University of Ilorin, PMB 1515, Ilorin, Nigeria
Keywords: Pretreatment, Modeling, Fruits, Magnetic Field, Blanching
Published date: 2020/06/30
