Nutritive value and mycoflora of sun dried cocoyam chips during storage

Abstract The nutritive value and the mycoflora of sundried cocoyam chips were investigated during six months storage. Seven fungi namely Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus glaucus, Absidia corymbifera, Mucor spp., Rhizopus spp., Candida spp were isolated during the study. The fungal count was found to increase as the storage time increased. The result of the proximate analysis (in %) showed that crude protein increased from 9.32 in freshly prepared samples to 11.36 in sundried samples stored for twenty four weeks. Also, carbohydrate content increased from 68.32 in freshly prepared samples to 69.52 in stored samples. Ash content increased from 3.55 to 4.20. Fat content decreased from 1.76 to 1.40 and the moisture content also decreased from 14.07 to 12.47 within the six months of storage. The result of mineral analysis (in mg/100g) showed that magnesium increased from 13.86 to 19.43, sodium increased from 15.53 to 16.55 but calcium was decreased from 23.50 to 23.21, zinc from 0.73 to 0.68 and phosphorus from 38.55 to 33.85. Copper, manganese and lead were not detected. This study has revealed the increase in the nutritional value and proximate analysis of sun dried cocoyam chips.