Cyanide content in whole‐root chips of ten cassava cultivars and its reduction by oven drying or sun drying on trays

Abstract

SummaryThe effect of sun drying on trays for 48 hr and of oven drying in an air‐forced oven at 60°C for 24 hr on the cyanide content of chips of ten cassava varieties was studied. Fresh cassava chips from whole roots of these varieties showed significantly different total cyanide contents among them with values in the range of 100–900 mg/kg on a dry matter basis; most of the varieties studied exhibited cyanide contents in the range of 200–600 mg/kg. The free cyanide proportion in the fresh chips was in the range of 30–40% of their total cyanide. Sun and oven drying reduced the cyanide content in the dried chips to approximately 15–30% of the initial cyanide content of fresh chips. In addition, the free cyanide content in dried chips accounted for approximately 60–80% of their total cyanide value.