The present work was undertaken to compare the effect of bromelain and papain on the sensory quality of sukuti (Nepalese indigenous dried buffalo meat). Buffalo lean meat (round cut) was purchased from the local market of Dharan and used for the preparation of sukuti after injection of 10% m/m enzyme (bromelain and papain) solution at the concentration (0-100 mg/L) and resting for 4h followed by drying at 65°C up to the moisture of 5%. The optimized concentration of each enzyme was selected by sensory evaluation based on color, flavor, texture, and overall acceptability. The proximate composition, collagen content, and collagen solubility were studied for two optimized samples with enzyme treatment and control. The best tenderizing effect of papain and bromelain enzyme was found at 40 mg/L and 10 mg/L respectively from the sensory analysis and the sensory attributes for these concentrations were significantly (p<0.05) higher than other samples. The soluble collagen content increased from 0.44 mg/g tissue in untreated meat to 0.52 for bromelain treated and to 0.98 mg/g for papain treated samples. The collagen solubility for the untreated sample was 4.74% which increases to 7.80% for bromelain and 13.82% for papain-treated samples. The protein content of optimized papain and bromelain treated samples was significantly decreased (p<0.05) from 82.44 to 80.25% and 81.43% respectively for papain and bromelain treated samples. There were no significant changes in fat, ash, and moisture on enzyme treatment.

The study aimed to conduct a comparative study of three most common potato storage conditions (in-house store, in-basket store and cold store) and to find the most suitable storage condition for farmers. The experimental work involved post-harvest loss assessment and study of pattern of respiratory and reducing sugar level for sixty days storage period. Total loss was lowest (4.38%) for cold stored potatoes and highest (13.04%) for in-house stored potatoes. Reducing sugar accumulation was least (0.65%) and remained almost constant throughout study period for in-house stored potatoes. Reducing sugar accumulation gradually increased and was maximum (1.04%) for cold stored potatoes. Respiratory rate was least in cold stored potatoes which gradually decreased and reached 3.17mg CO2/kg/hr at the end of sixty days storage. Respiratory rate was maximum for in-basket stored potatoes which reached up to 6.55 mg CO2/kg/hr at the end of storage. Storage loss and respiratory rate are minimum for cold stored potatoes but showed high sugar accumulation. In-house storage do not suffer from excessive sugar accumulation but storage loss is maximum of all. In case of in-basket storage, besides being cheap and feasible, there is no problem of sugar accumulation and storage losses was also significantly lower than in-house storage.

Stickiness and caking are the significant problems for food powders due to moisture migration from the storage environment. This study was conducted to determine the moisture sorption isotherm of weaning food (Nutrilac and Superceral) and to fit the sorption data in different sorption isotherm models. Static gravimetric method was used to determine the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) at 22-89% RH at 30°C. The EMC data obtained were plotted to the models Brunauer Emmet Teller (BET), Guggenheim Anderson and De Boer (GAB). Results indicated that sorption isotherms were of type II isotherm according to Brunauer et al., (1940) classification. BET model was fitted to the sorption data with coefficient of regression 0.985 and 0.986 for Nutrilac and Supercereal respectively. The GAB model was fitted with coefficient of regression 0.983 and 0.979 for Nutrilac and Supercereal respectively. Monolayer moisture content determined from the BET and GAB model at 30°C were 1.63 and 2.24 g/100g dry matter for Nutrilac and 1.51 and 2.26 g/100g dry matter for Supercereal respectively.