Effect of Drying Conditions on Nutrient Content of Dried ‘Nsukka’ Yellow Pepper (Capsicum Annuum L)

The effect of drying conditions such as adding different concentration of oil (3-10% (X1)), blanching for different times (2-5 min (X2)) and drying oven temperature (50-90oC (X3) on the nutritional content of dried ‘Nsukka’ yellow pepper (Capsicum annuum L) were investigated. The nutrient evaluated were sodium, potassium, vitamin B2, B3, B6 and vitamin C. Using the three factors Central Composite Design (CCRD), 20 experimental runs were generated with 14 experimental combinations and size replicates at the centre. Dried and fresh samples were subjected to chemical analysis for the nutrient studied. Models were developed and appropriate statistical analysis adopted to test the adequacy of the models. Response surface methodology was used as the optimization technique. Results showed sodium values ranging from 96.62 – 276.40 mg/100g, potassium 306.97 – 1153.23 mg/100g, vitamin B2 0.19 – 6.19 mg/100g, vitamin B3 0.90 – 8.26 mg/100g, vitamin B6 0.09 – 1.94 mg/100g and vitamin C 1.40 – 4.14 mg/100g. Some of the experimental data were significantly difference (P0.05). The model Adj. R2 were 0.19, 0.72, 0.90, 0.78, 0.83 and 0.70 for sodium, potassium, vitamin B2, B3, B6 and vitamin C respectively, indicating that apart from sodium, models could be used to effect optimization process. Optimization suggested 10% oil concentration, 5 min blanching time and 50oC drying temperature as the optimum drying conditions. This condition gave optimally dried ‘Nsukka’ yellow pepper with 918.28 mg/100g potassium, 2.87 mg/100g vitamin B2, 7.68 mg/100g vitamin B3, 1.24 mg/100g vitamin B6 3.26 mg/100g vitamin C at desirability of 65%