Mineral Composition and Starch Profile of Improved Varieties of Wateryam (Dioscorea alata) Flour:- Nwafor. Rita C

ABSTRACT

 This work determined the mineral composition and starch of improved varieties of water yam (Dioecorea alata). Improved varieties of watcryam tubers were procured from National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike and used for this study. Wholesome wateryam tubers were cleaned, peeled, washed and processed into flour. The flour samples were then subjected to various determinations such as mineral composition, starch quality, and total sugar. The result of : the mineral content of the wateryam flours ranged from 246.33-428.73 mg/100g, 3.17-2.91 I i ' . mg/1 00g, 68.52-90.59 mg/l00g for potassium, zinc and sodium respectively. The amylose and amylopectin content of the flour samples ranged from 29.75-35.9 I% and 64.09-70.25% for amy lose and amylopectin contents respectively. The total sugar content ranged 5.22-5.79 %. This I study revealed that wateryam flour possesses nutrients with health benefit.