A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES OF FLOURS FROM THREE VARIETIES OF SWEET POTATO (Ipomoeas batatas) ROOTS

ABSTRACT

This study was undertaken to assess the functional properties of flours from three varieties of sweet potato (Ipomoeas batatas). The varieties used in this study include orange flesh sweet potato – ‘Umuspo – 3 (Mother’s Delight)’, cream flesh sweet potato – ‘Ex-igbarium’ and red skin-white flesh sweet potato varieties. The functional properties analysed include Swelling power, Water absorption capacity, Oil absorption capacity, Bulk density and least gelation capacity. The Total solids and moisture content determination was also carried out and all data was subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) using Duncan Multiple Range Test SPSS 17.0. Results of functional analysis showed that the packed and loose bulk densities of the different sweet potato cultivars followed similar trend, with values ranging from 0.76±0.01g/ml to 0.96±0.00g/ml and 0.53±0.01g/ml to 0.74±0.00g/ml respectively, the red skin-white fleshed sweet potato flour had the highest while orange fleshed had least in both cases and all samples were significantly different (P