Determination of Starch and Cyanide Contents of Different Species of Fresh Cassava Tuber in Abia State, Nigeria.

ABSTRACT

This investigation aimed at determining the cyanide and starch contents of different species of cassava grown in Abia State. Samples of cassava tubers were purchased from the local market and identified by a taxonomist from the National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, Abia State. In this study, the cyanide levels obtained were less than 100 mg/kg for both sweet and bitter cassava. The lower concentration of cyanide obtained from this survey, could have been influenced by the season of harvest (rainy season) in Nigeria. Of the six species analyzed, “0581” recorded the highest in cyanide content with 62.57 ± 0.10 mg/kg, followed by “30211” with 59.55 ± 0.19 mg/kg. Sweet cassava (0505) recorded the least with 36.65 ± 0.16 mg/kg cyanide. On the starch content, 21.70 ± 0.10% was obtained from “30572”, followed by “8083” with 20.62 ± 0.11% and “30211” had the least starch content with 17.48 ± 0.02%. Both Starch (%) and HCN (mg/kg) are statistically significant (p-value < 0.001) in the means for the various species of cassava under study. However, from the posthoc test, there is no significant difference between species 30211 and 0581. The other species are significantly different at 5% level. However, all the species of cassava tested had cyanide above the recommended level (10 mg/kg). Consumption of these cassava species unprocessed/inadequately processed would lead to serious health challenges and therefore, efforts are required to reduce cyanide content at least to the recommended level.