No abstract

Three different formulas of ready to bake vegetarian cake mixes were prepared and quality and storability were analyzed. Proximate composition, beta carotene, colour (Lightness, redness and yellowness) of flour mix in terms of L*, a* and b* and total plate count were determined (n=3).The results were analyzed by completely randomized design using ANOVA by SAS statistical package and mean separation was done by using Least Significant Difference (LSD) at α= 0.05. The initial moisture content of cake mix 1, 2 and 3 were 5.23%, 6.41% and 5.61% and it was increased up to 5.63%, 6.79% and 5.84% respectively. High percentage of fat was recorded in Mix-1 (T1) and the least in Mix-3 (T3) and least in Mix 2 (T2) . All three mixes were not exceeded the safe limit of water activity for microorganisms (aw = 0.6) and resulted low microbial load (1.8*103). Addition of pumpkin flour and bale powder proportionately increased the yellowness of flour mixes and the L*, a* and b* colour values were significantly (p<0.05).The prepared cakes were analyzed for physico-chemical properties and consumer acceptability using 5 point Hedonic scale. Mix- 3 (T3) that containing wheat flour, rice flour, bael powder and pumpkin flour 10%, 17%, 3%, and 15% respectively was identified as the most suitable combination of ready to bake vegetarian cake mix (dry mix) and could be stored for 90 days without noticeable quality deterioration. According to the results obtained, the vegetarian ready to bake cake mix 3 was identified as the most preferable formula with the highest consumer acceptability. The Journal of Agricultural Sciences, vol.11, No 1, January 2016, pp.53-61

The objective of this study is to investigate the applicability of Taguchi method to the production process of a local industry. Harishchandra Mills (Pvt.) Ltd, Matara, which is engaged in soap manufacturing process has been selected as the local industry. This process is entangled with different kinds of variables. Four critical variables -two types of oil, coconut oil (a 1 ) and palm oil (a 0 ), on the basis of high and low saponification values, two levels of caustic soda (b 0 , b 1 ), and two different saponification temperatures, 70 (c 0 ) and 80 (c 1 ), with and without stirring process for saponification (d 1 , d 0 ) were adopted. The results obtained for Total Fatty Matter (TFM) was used to calculate optimum value (Yopt) for each treatment with and without replicates. The results for Yopt for TFM with and without replicates were 75.98%, and 76.66%, respectively. The best treatment combination under this method was a 1 b 1 c 1 d 1 for the same sequence of quality parameters given above. The same best treatment combinations were also obtained for the validation test, fourfactor experiment design and block design with and without replicates.