Abstract
Cassava is a significant food security and industrial crop, contributing as food, feed and industrial biomass in Africa, Asia and South America. Breeding efforts have led to the development of cassava variants having desirable traits such as increased root, flour, and starch yield, reduced toxicity, reduced pest/disease susceptibility and improved nutrient contents. Prominent among those breeding efforts is the development of colored-flesh cassava variants, especially biofortified yellow-fleshed ones, with increased pro-vitamin A carotenoids, compared to the white-flesh variants. The concept of sustainability in adoption of biofortified yellow-flesh cassava and its products cannot be fully grasped without some detailed information on its properties and how these variants compare to those of the white-flesh cassava. Flour and starch are highly profitable food products derived from cassava. Cassava roots can be visually distinguished based on flesh color and other physical properties, just as their flours and starches can be differentiated by their macro- and micro-properties. The few subtle differences that exist between cassava variants are identified and exploited by consumers and industry. Although white-flesh variants are still widely cultivated, value addition offered by biofortified yellow-flesh variants may strengthen acceptance and widespread cultivation among farmers, and, possibly, cultivation of biofortified yellow-flesh variants may outpace that of white-flesh variants in the future. This review compares properties of cassava root, flour, and starch from white-flesh and biofortified yellow-flesh variants. It also states the factors affecting the chemical, functional, and physicochemical properties; relationships between the physicochemical and functional properties; effects of processing on the nutritional properties; and practical considerations for sustaining adoption of the biofortified yellow-flesh cassava.
Highlights
Cassava is a staple food crop for more than half a billion people in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world and mainly used as food, feed and industrial raw material [1,2,3,4]
Minimal processing of cassava by methods susceptible to oxidation is recommended, if some vitamin C is to be retained
An exception is the average Peak viscosity (PV) of starch from three yellow-flesh variants from Nigeria reported as 382.14 RVU [60], which was similar to PV of starches of white-flesh variants reported by Onitilo et al [33] based on similar paste concentration and method of determination
Summary
Cassava is a staple food crop for more than half a billion people in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world and mainly used as food, feed and industrial raw material [1,2,3,4]. In the regions where cassava is cultivated, the flesh color is traditionally white [1] This is conventionally important to produce “white” starch or high quality flour. Visual differences exist between root and flour of white-flesh and yellow-flesh variants, but not for the starch. Due to issues with relatively restricted acceptance, cultivation and consumption of yellow-flesh cassava, it is pertinent to study if they are comparable to, or offer any nutritional, functional, or physicochemical advantages over the white-flesh cassava variants in a bid to argue for continued sustenance of efforts to improve its level of acceptance and adoption by the agro-allied industry and the public at large. The comparison of properties of cassava root, flour, and starch is discussed from a number of literature sources, based on differing flesh colors.
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