ABSTRACT A continuous flow multi-stage grinder for grinding grains and other applicable food products comprises the Hooper(001) which receives the grain of food item to be milled and channels it to the mill housing (002) to be milled in stages. The conveyor(003) carries the milled product from one stage of grinding to the next. Contained in the mill house at every stage the grinding pIates (004). The finally ground product comes out for collection through the discharge Channel (005). Grinding...
ABSTRACT A survey involving the use of structured questionnaires and personal communication was undertaken in South Western Nigeria to identify the livestock in the area, and their housing methods.. Chicken, pigs, rabbits, goats, sheep and cattle were the major animals found while the housing structures include baskets, battery cages, deep litter houses, cages, hutches, eggs, sheds and yards. In about half of the sites surveyed animals kept were not provided with housing, while in other pla...
ABSTRACT A beverage was prepared from pineapple, carrot and ginger juices using Response Surface Methodology to form a refreshing nutritional drink. Three independent variables were used to prepare the beverage: pineapple-tocarrot juice ratio (75/25-90/10), fibre size distribution (0.6-1.2 mm) and ginger concentration (2-5%). The effects of the variables were investigated and represented using quadratic models on pH, total soluble solids, beta-carotene and sensory attributes as responses. Re...
ABSTRACT Validation of FAO AquaCrop model for irrigated hot pepper in the coastal savannah of Ghana was carried out using two field experiments between August, 2014 and January, 2015 at the School of Agriculture Research and Teaching Farm, University of Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana. The first experiment’s results were used to calibrate the model while the second were used to validate the model. Experimental design was the Randomized Complete Block Design consisting of four trea...
ABSTRACT Two field experiments were conducted to compare the growth and yield of tomatoes using experimentation and FAO AquaCrop model at the University of Cape Coast Teaching and Research Farm in the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly of the Central Region of Ghana. The Randomized Complete Block Design was used with four (4) treatments and four(4) replications for the two experiments. The treatments used for both experiments were T1 – Full irrigation (100 %), T2 – 90 % irrigation, T3 – ...
ABSTRACT The drying kinetics and effect quality of dried moringa leaves using different drying methods. The methods were microwave (MW) alone, solar, sun, shade, hot air alone and blanch-assisted and MW-assisted hot air drying methods. The drying experiments were performed in the temperature range of 50 to 70 °C, MW-power of 270 to 720 W, blanching time of 1 to 3 min and sample thickness 3 to 20 mm. MW-pretreatment time, blanching time, sample thickness, microwave power and hot air temperatu...
ABSTRACT Knowledge of the required amount of irrigation and the time in the day to irrigate is very important for the efficient use of irrigation water and the maximization of vegetable yield and quality. In this experiment, the effect of time of irrigation (morning and evening) and amount of irrigation (100%ETc, 90%ETc and 80%ETc) on the growth, yield, physicochemical quality, shelf life, WUE and economic value of sweet pepper was investigated using completely randomized design with 3 replic...
ABSTRACT Wet sieving is still a manual operation in tropical crop processing. It is a time consuming operation. Most of the existing wet sieving machines are available in large scale industries and they are too sophisticated to operate and maintain by local processors. Therefore, a motorized starch extracting machine, based on shaking mechanism was designed, fabricated and tested to solve the problem associated with sieving of starch and other agricultural crops in Nigeria. The machine consis...
ABSTRACT In this study, the product temperature response of a single screw extruder developed locally was investigated for the extrusion process of the flour and starch of maize and cassava which are grown in Nigeria in large quantity but yet underutilized. These were compared with wheat flour which is commonly used for the production of alimentary pastes in a factorial experiment in completely randomized design A maximum temperature of 150oC per 30 minutes was attained through viscous dissip...
ABSTRACT In this study, the effect of extrusion process parameters of a locally developed extruder on the moisture loss of extrudates of the flour and starch of maize and cassava which are grown in Nigeria in large quantity were characterized. These were compared with those of wheat flour which is commonly used for the production of alimentary paste. The parameters considered include feed moisture (30, 40, 50 %), extruder temperature (40, 70, 100oC) built up by varying the duration of samplin...
Abstract: In this study, the effect of extrusion process parameters of a locally developed extruder on the expansion of extrudates of the flour and starch of maize and cassava which are grown in Nigeria in large quantity was characterised. These were compared with those of wheat flour which is commonly used for the production of alimentary paste. The parameters considered include feed moisture (30, 40, 50 % d.b.), extruder temperature (40, 70, 100oC) varied by continuous running of the machin...
AbstractA two-dimensional transient heat conduction equation was solved by finite- difference method to predict temperature variations within the maize (Zea mays) bin. The mathematical model comprises the center, interior and exterior heat transfer equations. Variables used include bin diameter, bin-wall material, grain temperatures, grain thermal and air properties. Software was developed for the model in Visual Basic. Temperatures within the silo were predicted at radii 0.0m (silo center), ...
Mechanised agriculture has the potential to supply Nigeria with the export needs, it requires to diversify and close its GDP gap. This potential can be actualised if the rural agricultural farmers adopted the use of mechanised irrigation farming techniques. The wind is widespread in Nigeria and wind-powered irrigation system is a clean and decentralised alternative for providing rural communities with electricity for meeting domestic and irrigation farming power needs in a sustainable way. In...
Abstract Egg incubators with regular, effective and efficient operation have the capacities of providing enough poultry birds which can serve every household in Nigeria with sufficient amount of protein on daily basis. Although many commercial incubators in Nigeria has folded up due to epileptic and erratic electricity supply which disrupts and impairs the operation of the incubators and reduce their level of performance resulting into low production and high cost of poultry birds. In order t...
The increase of salinity in soil and water bodies which simultaneously declines the productivity of agriculture is of great concern to the Nigerian Federation which holds agriculture as a major means of survival for its economy. Thus, the proper monitoring,use and management of soil and water bodies is a sure way to proffer solutions to food shortage and poor crop yields. This can however be achieved by the use of a fast, reliable, and accurate in-situ salinometer. A portable in-situ salinome...