Quality changes in market cassava chips infested by insects

Abstract

The biochemical changes occurring in dried cassava chips collected from various marketing centres in Kerala (India) due to insect infestation were studied. Araecerus fasciculatus (Degeer) was the most important pest of plain sun-dried cassava chips and Sitophilus oryzae (L.) and Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) were the important pests of parboiled chips. There was substantial reduction in starch and sugar content in fully infested plain dried chips as compared to the uninfested chips (83.5-77.9% for starch and 6.95-1.53% for sugar). Reduction in starch was more pronounced in fully infested parboiled chips (78-57%) while sugar increased nearly three fold (6.0–15.7%). Total and soluble amylose contents and reducing values were not significantly affected in plain dried chips due to infestation. Viscosity underwent only slight reduction in plain dried chips while in parboiled chips, the reduction was noticeable even at a partially infested stage. Although there was reduction in starch content due to insect infestation, starch quality did not change much in plain dried chips, indicating the possibility of using such infested chips in animal feed formulations and in the manufacture of commodity chemicals.