Determination of drying performance of different slice thicknesses from different cassava varieties using hybrid dryer

Abstract

Food provides most of the needed energy by humans to carry out their daily activities, but the issue of post-harvest losses is having an adverse effect on its production. In order to mitigate some of these post-harvest challenges, farmers in some of the developing countries have turned their attention on cassava production as the crop can provide food security. Cassava is also a drought resistant crop and can be left in the soil for a long time. However, cassava is equally one of the tuber crops with a very high deterioration rate. Numerous researches have been conducted in a way to find means of reducing these quick post-harvest losses with the emphases on drying. However, little information exists to show how wide variety of cassava sliced at different thicknesses perform when they are being dried, and how the principal dimensions of these dried chips can influence effective packaging. This study investigated the drying performance of seven cassava varieties sliced at three different thicknesses, and how their principal dimensions influenced effective packaging. The results obtained show that there was no obvious linear drying pattern for any of the cassava varieties. Again, CRI-Abrabopa had the highest drying time of 300 min., 240 min., and 210 min., for the 10 mm, 8 mm and 5 mm thick cassava slices, respectively. CRI-Dudzi was found to have been the variety to have lost more moisture with the highest drying rates of 0.0088 kg/min. for the 10 mm thick cassava slice, and 0.009 kg/min. for the 8 mm thick cassava slice. Moreover, Afisiafi obtained the lowest geometric mean diameter of 15.57 mm, 18.23 mm and 22.33 mm, accordingly for the 5 mm and 10 mm thick cassava slices, which made it easier for it to be packaged effectively