Investigating the Effects of Moisture Content on the Composition of Soursop Seeds for Industrial Uses

Abstract

Soursop has proven to be of high economic importance and contains some essential nutrients which are needed in the human body for heathy living. The seeds contain oil of about 24.86%. The oil is of high quality and possesses good characteristics that can be used as feedstock in food industries and in many other industrial applications. This research study was focused on investigating the proximate composition, mechanical and chemical properties of soursop seeds for industrial uses and as a potential supplement for feedstock. The data obtained from this study was statistically analysed using Tukey HSD. The results for the proximate analyses of soursop seeds were found to be high for all moisture content levels (19.10%, 19.82%, 20.67%, 21.25% and 23.15%). The samples with 30% moisture contain level contained the highest level of fat. Carbohydrate content in the sample was found to be low for all moisture content level (3.21%, 3.46%, 3.79%, 4.23% and 44.76%). The relative density values were between 0.92 and 0.98 (g/cm3) with specific gravity from 0.72 to 0.96 and refractive index was 1.46 at all the moisture levels employed. The results obtained from investigating the various composition of soursop seeds and also the oil expressed from the seeds indicted that, soursop seeds possess some good qualities which can be used for many industrial applications.