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Tacca involucrata is a crop popular for its natural starch with almost zero fat. Its processing has remained unmechanized. This study focused on the determination of some engineering properties of four dimensional classes of the tuber. The geometric mean diameters obtained ranged from 39.46 to 71.00 mm, the sphericity from 0.79 to 0.84, true densities and bulk densities from 1199.70 to 1365.50 kg/m3 and 489.91 to 560.60 kg/m3, respectively. Angle of repose and porosity are 35.33° to 37.68° and 54.34 to 59.18%, respectively. The coefficient of internal friction ranged from 0.28 to 0.61, while the coefficient of friction on wood, mild and galvanized steel surfaces are 0.49 to 0.56, 0.42 to 0.51 and 0.34 to 0.48, respectively. Deformation, stress and Young's modulus at break are, respectively, 10.44 mm, 701.23 N/mm2 and 6666.18 N/mm2 in the natural rest position and 15.06 mm, 755.80 N/mm2 and 7362.00 N/mm2 in minor diameter position. These are within the ranges for similar tubers. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS These data, useful in the design and development of handling and processing machines to replace the commonly used traditional manual methods for Tacca tubers, are not available currently in literature.

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The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the addition of fluted pumpkin leaves extract on the physicochemical properties, microbiological quality and organoleptic attributes of the soy milk using standard methods. Five blend ratios and codes of 100:0 (Sample A), 95:5 (Sample B), 90:10 (Sample C), 85:15 (Sample D) and 80:20 (Sample E) were developed for soy milk and fluted pumpkin leaves extract respectively. Results from this study revealed that increase in fluted pumpkin leaves extract supplementation in the soy milk increased the moisture (80.06 to 82.68%), fiber (0.58 to 0.76%), ash (0.71 to 0.96%), pH (5.99 to 6.50), while decreasing the protein (3.57 to 2.80%), fat (2.78 to 2.30%), carbohydrate (12.30 to 10.38%), titratable acidity (0.17 to 0.13%), total solids (19.27 to 18.60%), total bacteria (3.30×105 to 1.45×105 cfu/mL) and fungi (2.40×104 to 6.0×102 cfu/mL) loads. The fluted pumpkin leaves extract also appeared to have a bactericidal effect on the product as bacterial load decreased with increase in the concentration of the extract. The sensory evaluation revealed that Sample C containing 90% soy milk and 10% fluted pumpkin leaves extract was the most preferred blend among the samples containing the leaves extract. The formulated product could be useful to individuals who have lactose intolerance or heart-related diseases since it is practically free from lactose and cholesterol. It is recommended that flavour masking agents should be used to improve the herbal flavour of the product, to enhance its general acceptability and encourage consumption.

Aims: The aim was to evaluate the effect of watermelon rind addition on chemical and sensory properties of sorghum based mumu. Study Design: The experimental design used was the complete randomized design (CRD) and the Data obtained was subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey’s Least Significant Difference(LSD) test to compare treatment means; differences was considered significant at 95% (P≤0.05) (SPSS Version 21 software). Place and Duration of Study: Department of Chemistry, Benue State University, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria, between June 2018 and March 2019. Methodology: Sorghum-based mumu was prepared from composite flours of 85:15, 75:15, 70:15 and 65:15% roasted sorghum flour and roasted partially defatted groundnut flour respectively and included with 0, 10, 15 and 20% watermelon rind powder respectively which were known as sample A, B, C and D accordingly and sample A was used as control. Subsequently, proximate composition, selected minerals and vitamins were determined using standard methods. Sensory evaluation was also conducted. Results: The addition of watermelon rind powder to sorghum-based mumu showed a significantly higher (P < 0.05) on the protein, ash and fibre. Their values ranged from  13.67 to 15.97%, 1.99 to 3.17% and 1.33 to 1.67% respectively, while moisture, crude fat and carbohydrate decrease with values ranged from 12.35 to 10.70%, 2.07 to 1.94% and 68.59 to 66.55% respectively. The energy values ranged from 347 to 348.76 Kcal/100 g). The results obtained from different minerals tested ranged as follows for phosphorus (124.10 to 155.67mg/100g), for magnesium (1.36 to 2.90 mg/100 g), for calcium (12.28 to26.67 mg/100 g) and for potassium (59.29 to 72.79 mg/100 g). Vitamins ranged from A (14.93 to 15.25 ug/100 g), C (5.97 to 8.12mg/100g), B1 (0.43 to 0.54mg/100g) and B2 (0.01 to 0.13 mg/100 g). Sensory evaluation results showed that the acceptability of the samples decreased significantly (P < 0.05) with increased level of watermelon rind powder. Conclusion: The sorghum -based mumu supplemented with watermelon powder at 10% and 15% should be adopted since their sensory scores were high and the nutrient content significantly increased.