Quality response of cocoa beans to different storage materials in the Samreboi District of Ghana Cocobod in The Western Region

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
July, 2016
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
A study was conducted to evaluate the performance of different storage bags over different storage periods on the quality of dried cocoa beans. The study was conducted at Samreboi Cocoa District which is part of Wassa Amenfi West District of Western Region of Ghana. The study was made up of two parts namely survey using questionnaire and laboratory analysis. In all 70 cocoa purchasing clerks were sampled and interviewed using convenient sampling technique on the qualities, forms of defects and problems in cocoa beans storage in the district with the help of closed and opened questionnaires. Their res ponses were analyzed with the help of SPSS. The experiment was a 3×7 factorial arrangement laid out in a randomized complete design (RCD) with three replications. The factor A was made up of jute sack, woven nylon and hermetic bag. Factor B was a lso varying time of storage (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 months). Cut test was conducted to assess effects of the experimental treatments on the physical attributes of the stored cocoa beans. Proximate analysis was carried out at the KNUST Biochemistry department laboratory. Analysis of Variance was carried out on the data using Statistix Student Version 9. Tukey's HSD was used for mean separation at probability level of 0.01. The survey revealed that wet beans (65.7%) followed by mouldy beans (35.7%), slaty beans (27.1%), impurities (38.1%) and purple beans (42.9%) were the five most common forms of defects in cocoa beans in the district. The results indicated that cocoa beans stored hermetically recorded the least mould, germinated and other defects except slate and purple, among the methods of storage used in this study. Hermetic bag recorded the lowest moisture content of 6.80% whilst the jute sack and woven nylon recorded 8.59% and 7.47% respectively. The jute sack and woven nylon recorded higher fat, nitrogen free extract, free fatty acids and pH compared with hermetic bag. The use of hermetic sacs resulted in superior quality stored beans. It is recommended that hermetic storage material should be used by stakeholders for storage of cocoa to increase shelf-life
Description
A thesis submitted to The School of Research and Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Master of Philosophy (Postharvest Technology) Degree.
Keywords
Citation