EVALUATION OF SUITABLE MODEL FOR DRYING OF BREADFRUIT

This research work evaluate a suitable model for drying of breadfruit with a view of establishing the full industrial potential of breadfruit flour for utilization as food and food ingredients. Freshly harvested breadfruits dried at 3mm thickness for uniformity in drying with a cabinet dryer at 50, 60 and 70 °C respectively until constant weights were achieved. Twelve different mathematical drying models were fitted to the experimental data of the moisture ratio against the time using non-linear regression analysis by SigmaPlot 10.0 and Microsoft Excel (2010) computer program. The models were compared based on their coefficients of determination (R2), reduced chi-squares (χ2), root mean square errors (RMSE), and mean bias error (MBE) between the experimental and predicted moisture ratios. The Handerson and Pabis model best described the drying curve of temperature at 70°C while midili-kucuk model best describe the drying curve of temperature at 50°C and 60°C.