Physico-chemical properties of cassava starch

Cassava starch was isolated from flour of four IITA (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria) cassava genotypes planted in the dry and in the rainy season and harvested at 6, 9, 12,15 and 18 months after planting. The amylose contents of the starch samples varied between 17.9 and 23.6%. Within a single genotype and planting season, no systematic changes in particle size distribution as a function of crop age at harvest were found; particle sizes varied between 9.5 and 12.7 mu m and between 11.8 and 13.6 mu m for samples of the dry season and the rainy season, respectively. The starch samples varied in differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) gelatinisation temperature and exhibited peak multiplicity depending or planting season and harvest Lime. Even at a moisture dry matter ratio of 6.0 (w/w) peak multiplicity was still observed, suggesting that the phenomenon is a property of the starch itself rather than resulting from low moisture gelatinisation.status: publishe