Received: 6 July 2021 | Revised: 17 November 2021 | Accepted: 18 November 2021

DOI: 10.1002/fsn3.2687

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Starch composition and functional properties of raw and

pretreated anchote (Coccinia abyssinica (Lam.) Cogn.) tuber
flours dried at different temperatures

Adugna Mosissa Bikila1,2 | Yetenayet Bekele Tola1 | Tarekegn Berhanu Esho3 |

Sirawdink Fikreyesus Forsido1 | Desta Fekadu Mijena4

1
Department of Post-­Harvest
Management, College of Agriculture and Abstract
Veterinary Medicine, Jimma University,
Anchote (Coccinia abyssinica (Lam.) Cogn.) is an indigenous tuber crop produced in
Jimma, Ethiopia
2
Department of Food Science and
southwest part of Ethiopia. As an indigenous and underutilized tuber, limited scien-
Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, Wollega tific information is available about the characteristics of dried anchote powder. In
University, Shambu, Ethiopia
3
this study, attempts were made to investigate the starch composition and functional
Department of Industrial Chemistry,
Addis Ababa Science and Technology properties of flours produced from the raw and pretreated tuber dried at different
University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia temperatures (60, 80, and 100°C). The results showed that both pretreatment and
4
Department of Plant Breeding, College
drying temperature significantly (p < .05) affected the amylose/amylopectin ratio, pH,
of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine,
Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia total soluble solids (TSS), water absorption capacity (WAC), oil absorption capacity
(OAC), water absorption index (WAI), water solubility index (WSI), swelling power (SP),
Correspondence
Yetenayet Bekele Tola, Department of total polyphenols content (TPC), and total flavonoid content (TFC). The treatment
Post-­Harvest Management, College of
combinations result in varied ranges of pH (5.70–­6.47), TSS (5.37–­10.8 °Brix), WAC
Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine,
Jimma University, P.O. Box 307, Jimma, (2.42–­4.21 g/g), OAC (0.94–­1.44 g/g), WAI (3.40–­5.42 g/g), WSI (11.40%–­20.37%),
Ethiopia.
SP (4.56–­7.20 g/g), foaming capacity (FC) (3.31%–­33.33%), foam stability (FS) (1.89%–­
Emails: [email protected]; yetenayet.
[email protected] 20.00%), amylose content (AC) (14.18%–­36.11% ), TPC (0.22–­0.80 mg GAE/g), and
TFC content (0.12–­0.44 mg CE/g). The blanched and boiled anchote flours dried at
Funding information
Ministry of Science and Higher Education relatively lower drying temperature exhibited better WAC, SP, and WAI than the raw.
Considering the determined parameters, the flour from the tuber can be used as an
ingredient in different food formulations.

KEYWORDS
anchote flour, drying temperature, functional properties, pretreatment, starch composition

1 | I NTRO D U C TI O N The most common edible part of anchote is its tuber, but its leaf
and young fruit are also consumed in some areas (Fekadu, 2011).
Anchote (Coccinia abyssinica (Lam.) Cogn.) is a potentially produc- The total yield of the tuber was reported to be about 15–­18 tons/
tive and nutritious starchy tuberous crop indigenous to Ethiopia, ha, which is comparable with that of sweet potato and potato
but its utilization is restricted to the southwest part of the country. (Fekadu, 2014), and usually harvested after 3–­5 months of planting

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creat​ive Commo​ns Attri​bution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.
© 2021 The Authors. Food Science & Nutrition published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Food Sci Nutr. 2022;10:645–660.  wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fsn3 | 645

646 | BIKILA et al.

(Abera & Haile, 2015; Mekbib & Deressa, 2016). Compared with 2 | M ATE R I A L S A N D M E TH O DS
other common root and tuber crops, the crop is highly nutritious
and contains valuable nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein, 2.1 | Materials
fiber, and different minerals particularly calcium (Ayalew, 2016;
Parmar et al., 2017). The anchote tuber used for this study was Desta 01, the first im-
However, it is an underutilized crop due to limited processing proved variety released by Debre zeit Agricultural Research Center
and value addition except for the traditional boiling of the tuber in under the Ethiopian Institute of Agriculture Research (DZARC/EIAR)
excess water (Parmar et al., 2017). Under such conventional cooking in 2018.
practice, the tuber is hard to cook and takes a long time compared
with other starchy tubers such as cassava and sweet potato (Parmar
et al., 2017), resulting in increased demand for energy to cook. In 2.2 | Research design
addition, boiling for an extended time may affect the nutrient com-
position of the tuber due to thermal degradation and leaching out A 3 × 3 factorial experiment in a completely randomized design was
in boiling water. Furthermore, like other tuber crops, the tuber of employed to run the experiment. The first factor included predry-
anchote cannot be stored for an extended period due to its perish- ing treatments in three levels (untreated (raw), blanched, and boiled
able nature and loss in quality. Underground storage was commonly tubers), the second factor was drying temperature in three levels
practiced to avoid postharvest losses, but this prevents producers (60, 80, and 100°C), and the experiment was replicated three times.
from using the same field for other crops.
These limitations hindered the extensive utilization of the tuber
in different forms and different parts of the country and elsewhere. 2.3 | Sample preparation
Converting the tuber into semiprocessed shelf-­stable and easy-­to-­
use products such as flour is necessary for safe storage, loss re- Anchote flour samples were prepared as per the primary steps
duction, broader utilization, convenience, and commercialization. shown in Figure 1. Fresh anchote tuber was washed in running tap
However, the conversion of the tuber into flour may need predrying water to remove the adhered substances, then peeled off using
treatments and drying practice, which may affect the product's com- stainless steel knives, washed further with tap water, and sliced
position and other native properties. The effect of drying tempera- into ~2 mm thickness. After mixing the slices, the samples were
ture and predrying treatments on the drying kinetics of the anchote then grouped into three: raw tuber, tuber subjected to blanching
tuber and on the nutritional composition and thermal properties of in hot water (98 ± 2°C) for 5 min to avoid enzymatic browning, and
its flour was recently reported (Bikila et al., 2020, 2021). However, that boiled in water for 30 min. After blotting the slices in tissue
the starch composition and functional properties of the flour as af- paper, the samples were then dried in a convective hot air-­drying
fected by predrying treatment and drying temperature have not yet oven (Labquip, Leicester LE67 5FT, England) at 60, 80, and 100°C
been studied well. until constant weight was obtained. Dried tuber slices were then
Understanding the starch composition and functional properties ground into flour, homogenized, sieved through a 500-­μ m mesh,
of anchote flour is crucial if one plans to use it for different purposes packed in a moisture-­proof polyethylene bag, and stored at −4°C
by further processing. Native starches have unique starch composi- until analysis.
tion and functional properties, which are influenced by the starch's
structural characteristics, shape, and botanical source. In addition
to this, starchy products usually do not possess the desirable func- 2.4 | Determination of starch composition
tionality after pretreatment or processing, which may limit their uti-
lization in food and nonfood applications (Gunaratne et al., 2016). 2.4.1 | Starch extraction
Alteration in starch composition could also affect functional prop-
erties of the dried flour due to complex interaction between the Starch extraction was carried out using the alkaline method de-
composition, structure, molecular conformation, and nature of food scribed by Tattiyakul et al. (2006). One part of anchote flour (g)
components. was dispersed in five parts of 0.05% (w/v) NaOH solution (mL) and
Consequently, the characterization of the starch composition let to stand for 2 hr. The suspension was screened through a 200-­
and functional properties of the anchote tuber flour is necessary mesh sieve, and the filtrate was centrifuged (SIGMA 2-­16KC, India)
for extensive utilization and commercialization of the product for at 3000 g and 4°C for 10 min. The supernatant was then decanted,
different purposes. The flour made from the tuber can be used as the sediment was resuspended in five parts of distilled water, and
an ingredient to formulate various products for different social centrifugation was carried out. The washing step using distilled
groups. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of water was repeated four times. The sediment was finally dried in a
predrying treatments and drying temperature on the starch com- hot air convective oven (LABQUIP, LEICESTER LE67 5FT, England)) at
position, and physicochemical and functional properties of anchote 40°C for 16 h, ground, and sieved through a 100-­mesh sieve, and the
tuber flours. starch flour were preserved for further analysis.
BIKILA et al. | 647

F I G U R E 1 Anchote flour preparation procedure from its tuber, from one of the treatments to represent the process

2.4.2 | Amylose and amylopectin contents to prepare the sample. The solution was stirred constantly for
30 min, and pH measurement was taken with frequent shaking until
Amylose and amylopectin of anchote starch were determined ac- stable reading.
cording to Arueya and Ojesanmi (2019). Accordingly, 0.10 g of the
starch sample was weighed into a 100-­m l volumetric flask, and
1 ml of 99% ethanol and 9 ml of 1 M NaOH solution were added. 2.5.2 | Total soluble solids
The contents were mixed thoroughly, and the solution was heated
for 10 min in boiling water to gelatinize the starch. After cooling, Total soluble solids (TSS) (°Brix) of the flour sample was estimated
the solution was made up to the mark with distilled water and using 10% aqueous solution of each flour using a hand refractom-
shaken thoroughly. Then, 5 ml of the starch solution in the 100-­ eter (IP65; Eclipse Range, UK) according to the method described in
ml volumetric flasks was treated with 1.0 ml of 1 M acetic acid Thriveni et al. (2019). A clear solution was obtained by filtering the
and 2.0 ml iodine solution (0.2%). The final solution was diluted to sample using multiple layers of muslin cloth. From the solution, 2–­3
the mark with distilled water, and the absorbance was read using drops were placed on a calibrated refractometer, and the TSS was
a spectrophotometer (V-­6 30; JASCO, Japan) at 620 nm. The ab- measured in °Brix.
sorbance of the blank solution was deducted from each sample,
and percent amylose content was determined using the following
equation, and the difference estimated in the amylopectin con- 2.5.3 | Water absorption capacity
tent (%).
According to the method described by Witono et al. (2014), Water
Amylose Content ( % ) = 3.06 × A × 20 % (1) absorption capacity (WAC) was determined gravimetrically with
slight modification. One gram of the flour sample was immersed in
where A is the absorbance read at 620 nm, 3.06 is the conversion fac- 10 ml of distilled water at room temperature (21°C) and shaken to mix
tor calculated as milligram amylose in unit absorbance, and 20 is the well using a sealed centrifuge tube, after which it was left to reach
dilution factor. the maximal swelling. After 30 min, the mixture was centrifuged at
805 g for 30 min, at room temperature (21°C). Then, the swollen
sample was separated by decantation and weighed. Finally, WAC
2.5 | Determination of functional properties was calculated as g H2O/g dry flour using the following equation:

2.5.1 | pH
( )
g m2 − m1
WAC = (2)
g m1
The pH of the flour samples was determined using a pH meter (pH-­
016; HINOTEK, China) calibrated against standards of pH 7 and 4. where m2 is the sample's weight with the absorbed water and m1 is the
Five grams of each sample was dispersed in 25 ml of distilled water initial weight of the dry flour sample.
648 | BIKILA et al.

2.5.4 | Oil absorption capacity

( )
g Weight of sedimental paste (g)
SP = (6)
Oil absorption capacity (OAC) was determined according to the g Weight of the dry sample (g)
method described by Achy et al. (2017). One gram of the flour
sample was immersed in 10 ml of soybean oil at room temperature 2.5.8 | Foaming capacity and foam stability
(21°C), shaken to mix well, and then left to reach the maximal ab-
sorption. After 30 min, the mixture was centrifuged at 1811 g for The foaming capacity (FC) and foam stability (FS) of anchote flours
30 min. Then, the clear supernatant was decanted, and the sedi- were evaluated according to the method reported by Chandra
ment was weighed. Finally, OAC was calculated using the following et al. (2015). One gram flour of the sample was added to 50 ml of
equation: distilled water at 30 ± 2°C in a 100-­ml graduated cylinder. The sus-
pension was mixed and shaken for 5 min to make the foam. The vol-
ume of foam at 30 s after whipping was expressed as foam capacity
( )
g m2 − m1
OAC = (3)
g m1 using the following equation.

where m2 = sample's weight with the absorbed oil, whereas m1 = initial Volume of foam AW − Volume of foam BW (7)
FC( % ) = × 100
Volume of foam BW
weight of the dry flour.
where FC is the foam capacity, AW is the after whipping, and BW is
the before whipping.
2.5.5 | Water absorption index The foam volume was recorded 1 h after whipping to determine
foam stability as a percent of initial foam volume.
The water absorption index (WAI) was determined according to the
method described by Yousf et al. (2017). The anchote flour (2 g) was Volume of foam after 1 h (8)
FS ( % ) = × 100
Volume of foam AW
suspended in distilled water (20 ml) at room temperature (21°C) for
30 min and gently stirred and then centrifuged at 805 g for 15 min. 2.5.9 | Color
The supernatant was poured into a tarred evaporating dish to be
used for WSI (g/g) determination. The remaining sediment was The color of the flour samples was measured with a colorimeter (3nh
weighed, and WAI was calculated as grams of the gel obtained per Spectrophotometer, NR110, China), recording coordinates L*, a*, and b*
gram of solid flour. values. The L* stands for lightness, the a* indicates redness, and the
b* represents yellowness (Baidoo et al., 2014). High scores for L*, a*,
Weight of sediment with absorbed water and b* correspond to the high degree of lightness, redness, and yel-
WAI = (4)
Weight of dry solid flour lowness, respectively. The total color difference (ΔE) was calculated
concerning the raw sample from the color parameters L*, a*, and b* as
2.5.6 | Water solubility index described in the following equation:

The water solubility index (WSI) was determined according to )2 ]1∕2

(9)
[( )2 ( )2 (
ΔE = Lo − L + ao − a + bo − b
the method reported by Yousf et al. (2017). The supernatant ob-
tained from WAI analysis was dried in an oven at 100°C to constant
weight, and the dry weight of the dissolved solid was taken. Then, where Lo, ao, and bo are L*, a*, b* values for the control (raw) sample.
WSI was expressed as a percentage of the original weight of the
flour sample (2 g).
2.6 | Total polyphenols, total flavonoid, and total
Weight of dissolved solid in supernatant
(5)
antioxidant capacity
WSI ( % ) = × 100
Weight of dry solids
2.6.1 | Extraction of samples
2.5.7 | Swelling power
Extraction was carried out by shaker (HY-­2(A); Speed Adjusting
The swelling power (SP) of the flour samples was determined ac- Multi-­purpose Vibrator, China) as optimized and reported (Sultana
cording to the procedure reported by Kusumayanti et al. (2015). A et al., 2009) with slight modification. Ten grams of anchote flour
0.1 g sample was heated in 10 ml distilled water in a water bath (HH-­ sample was mixed with 100 ml of aqueous methanol solvent
S4 Laboratory Thermostatic Digital Water Bath, China) at 60°C for (99.8%). The mixture was then shaken for 24 h at room tempera-
30 min with constant mixing. The samples were centrifuged at 229 g ture (21°C) and the solution filtered using Whatman Grade 4 filter
for 15 min at room temperature (21°C), the precipitated part was paper. The final extract stored in a refrigerator (−4°C) until used
weighted, and SP was calculated using the following equation: for analysis.
BIKILA et al. | 649

2.6.2 | Total polyphenols content TA B L E 1 Amylose and amylopectin contents of anchote flour
starch pretreated and dried at different drying temperatures
The total polyphenols content (TPC) of anchote flour extracts was Amylopectin
estimated according to the Folin–­C iocalteu method as adopted PT DT (°C) Amylose (%) (%)
from Tanvir et al. (2017). Accordingly, 0.4 ml of the extract was Raw 60 26.4 ± 1.57c 73.6 ± 1.57d
mixed with 1.6 ml of 7.5% NaCO3 solution, followed by the addi-
80 36.1 ± 0.32a 63.9 ± 0.32f
tion of 2 ml of 10-­fold diluted Folin–­C iocalteu reagent reaction b
100 31.4 ± 0.47 68.6 ± 0.47e
mixture was incubated for one hour in the dark. The intensity of
Blanched 60 21.3 ± 0.49d 78.6 ± 0.49c
the blue-­colored complex was measured spectrophotometrically
de
80 19.9 ± 0.04 80.1 ± 0.04bc
at 765 nm wavelength using a spectrophotometer (V-­6 30; JASCO,
100 14.1 ± 2.08f 85.8 ± 0.73a
Japan). Finally, the TPC present in the samples was determined
ef
using gallic acid (GAE) standard (SPECTRUM CHEMICAL, China) Boiled 60 16.6 ± 0.73 83.4 ± 0.73ab

(R 2 = .999) as gallic acid equivalent (GAE) in concentration ranges 80 15.5 ± 1.46f 84.5 ± 1.46a
f
of 12.50–­100.00 mg/L and expressed as milligram of GAE/g of the 100 15.6 ± 3.10 84.4 ± 3.10a
flour sample. LSD (0.05) 2.54 2.54
CV% 6.7 1.9

Note: Values are mean ± standard deviation of three replications.

2.6.3 | Total flavonoid content Means shared the same letters in a column are not significantly
different (p < .05).
The Total flavonoid content (TFC) of anchote flour extracts was Abbreviations: CV, coefficient of variation; DT, drying temperature;
LSD, least significant difference; PT, pretreatment.
estimated using the colorimetric method adopted from Tanvir
et al. (2017). Briefly, 1 ml of extract with concentration of 0.1 g/ml
was mixed with 0.3 ml of 5% sodium nitrite. After 5 min, 0.3 ml of where A0 is the absorbance of the control reaction and A1 is the ab-
10% aluminum chloride was added, with 2 ml of 1 M sodium hy- sorbance in the presence of all of the extract samples and reference
droxide after 6 min of incubation and with the immediate addition standards.
of 2.4 ml of distilled water to produce a total volume of 10 ml. The
color intensity of the flavonoid–­aluminum complex was measured
at 510 nm using a spectrophotometer (V-­630; JASCO, Japan). Finally, 2.7 | Data analysis
the TFC was determined against (+)-­
catechin standard ( Sigma-­
Aldrich) (R 2=0.988) as (+)-­catechin equivalent (CE) in a concentration The data were subjected to ANOVA, and the significance of the dif-
range of 1.00–­100.00 μg/ml, and the result was expressed as mil- ference between means was determined with Tukey's method at a
ligram of CE/g of anchote flour. 95% confidence level (p ≤ .05) using Minitab (Version 16, USA). The
results were expressed as means ± standard deviation of the tripli-
cate treatment. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to meas-
2.6.4 | Total antioxidant capacity ure the relationship between the flour's properties and the strength
and direction of the relationship.
The total antioxidant activity of anchote flour was estimated using
DPPH (2, 2′–­diphenyl-­1-­picrylhydrazyl) radical. The radical scaveng-
ing activity of the sample extracts was measured using DPPH, ac- 3 | R E S U LT S A N D D I S CU S S I O N
cording to Woldegiorgis et al. (2014). About 0.004% of DPPH radical
solution in methanol was prepared, and then, 4 ml of this solution 3.1 | Anchote flour starch composition
was mixed with 1 ml of various concentrations (2–­16 mg/ml) of the
extracts in methanol. The samples were then incubated for 30 min Amylose and amylopectin are the two starch components, and
in dark at room temperature (21°C). The scavenging capacity was de- their proportion determines the starch functionality. Amylose and
termined using a spectrophotometer (JASCO, Japan) by monitoring amylopectin contents of anchote starch obtained from its raw and
the decrease in absorbance at 517 nm. l-­ascorbic acid was used as pretreated tuber flours are presented in Table 1. Amylose con-
positive control with the same concentrations as above. The inhibi- tent of the raw, blanched, and boiled anchote flour starches was
tion of radical DPPH in percent (%) was then calculated by using the ranged in 26.44%–­36.11%, 14.18%–­21.36%, and 15.52%–­16.63%,
following equation: respectively. In agreement with this, amylose content of 25.5%
(raw) and 22.9% (boiled) in plantain flour was reported (Bassey
& Dosunmu, 2003). Predrying treatments showed a significant
( )
A0 − A1
% DPPH Inhibition = × 100 (10)
A0 (p < .05) decrease in amylose content from raw to blanched and then
650 | BIKILA et al.

boiled samples. For instance, at the drying temperature of 60°C, the

1.89 ± 0.04b

1.89 ± 0.04b
4.92 ± 0.08b

2.48 ± 1.06b

2.55 ± 1.06b
1.91 ± 0.02b
2.22 ± 0.55b
2.47 ± 1.07b
20.00 ± 0.89a

Abbreviations: CV, coefficient of variation; DT, drying temperature; FC, foaming capacity; FS, foam stability; LSD, least significant difference; OAC, oil absorption capacity; PP, preprocessing;SP, swelling
flour sample from the boiled tuber exhibited a 37% reduction in am-
FS (%) ylose content than flour from the raw sample dried at the same tem-

15.02
4.16
perature. Predrying treatments also showed a significant effect on
amylopectin content. However, the decrease in amylose was accom-
panied by an increase in percentage of amylopectin content. Similar
a

19.61 ± 1.96b
33.33 ± 3.05

6.00 ± 2.00 c

6.00 ± 2.00 c
findings also showed a reduction in amylose content by boiling in

3.31 ± 1.13c
4.67 ± 1.15c
c

c
4.31 ± 0.60
7.29 ± 0.62

7.33 ± 1.15
cocoyam (Xanthosoma maffa (Scoth)) (raw 25.51%, boiled 23.54%)
FC (%)

15.62
and aerial yam (Dioscorea Bulbifera) (raw 30%, boiled 26.5% ) tubers

5.17
(Adegunwa et al., 2011; Sanful et al., 2017). The decrease could be
due to the disruption of the ordered structure of starch granules
6.65 ± 0.34b
d

leading to the breakdown of the amylose-­amylopectin chain and

6.61 ± 0.27b
7.20 ± 0.03a
c
d

6.07 ± 0.07c
4.56 ± 0.49f
5.24 ± 0.03

6.81 ± 0.24
6.14 ± 0.05
4.99 ± 0.47

leaching out of amylose into the water during blanching and boiling
SP (g/g)

0.36 (Bassey & Dosunmu, 2003; Guillén et al., 2018; Sanful et al., 2017).
4.67 The significant decrease in amylose content from the boiled sample

Note: Values are mean ± standard deviation of three replications. Means shared the same letters in a column are not significantly different (p < .05).
compared with the blanched one might be the relatively higher boil-
13.33 ± 0.58bcd

ing temperature and extended boiling time of the tuber.

bcd

12.05 ± 0.43cd
13.92 ± 0.38bc
13.75 ± 0.29bc

b
d

a
15.17 ± 0.76b
14.83 ± 1.04

20.37 ± 1.48
11.40 ± 0.90
13.23 ± 0.75

The drying temperature of pretreated samples also showed a sig-

WSI (%)

nificant difference (p < .05), mainly for the raw and blanched sam-
2.20
8.10

ples (Table 1). The highest amylose content (36.1%) was observed
for raw samples dried at 80°C and followed by the same sample but
dried at 100°C (31.4%) and the lowest (26.4%) for the raw sample
4.38 ± 0.05cd
cd

4.14 ± 0.07de
a
3.91 ± 0.06e

4.65 ± 0.35c

dried at 60°C. The relative increase in the percentage of amylose

e

4.94 ± 0.13b
f

5.42 ± 0.04
3.40 ± 0.13

4.40 + 0.16
3.93 + 0.13
WAI (g/g)
TA B L E 2 Functional properties of raw, blanched, and boiled anchote flour dried at different temperatures

content might be associated with the release of amylose from the

amylopectin network due to the destruction of starch granules at
0.42
5.42

higher drying temperatures (Vithu et al., 2020). Blanched samples

dried at 60 and 80°C (Table 1) showed no significant difference in
1.12 ± 0.08bc
1.19 ± 0.00 bc
bc

amylose and amylopectin contents than samples dried at 100°C.

b

power; WAC, water absorption capacity; WAI, water absorption index; WSI, water solubility index.
c
1.07 ± 0.08c
a
1.44 ± 0.15a

0.94 ± 0.13d
1.21 ± 0.04

1.09 ± 0.03
1.52 ± 0.02

1.17 ± 0.02
OAC (g/g)

This trend might result from the offset of the released amylose due
to the temperature effect by its leaching out during blanching and
6.01
0.10

boiling. However, drying temperature showed no effect on amylose

and amylopectin contents for boiled samples. This could be due to
the formation of insoluble starch through dissociation and reaggre-
3.54 ± 0.03bc
3.63 ± 0.08b
d

3.72 ± 0.09b
g

3.15 ± 0.09e
f

2.68 ± 0.07f

4.21 ± 0.06
3.35 ± 0.02
2.42 ± 0.03
2.72 ± 0.03
WAC (g/g)

gation of the amylose chain during boiling, which might be less af-
fected by drying temperature (Chen et al., 2017). This implies that
1.85
0.10

drying at the lowest temperature is recommended from an energy-­

cost perspective.
The amylose content of the raw anchote starch (26.44%–­36.11%)
10.8 ± 0.2a
TSS (°Brix)

5.8 ± 0.2d
d

6.8 ± 0.3c
6.8 ± 0.2c

6.8 ± 0.2c
b
c

c
5.4 ± 0.2

9.2 ± 0.6
7.2 ± 0.2
7.2 ± 0.3

was comparable with previous reports for cassava (23.79%–­48.79%),

yam (29.5%–­30.0%), and water yam (23.35%–­33.28%) (Adegunwa
3.74
0.74

et al., 2011; Agyepong & Barimah, 2018; Sanful et al., 2017). The
result was higher than the report of Babu and Parimalavalli (2014)
5.97 ± 0.02cd
5.98 ± 0.01cd

for sweet potato starch (18.17%–­18.56%). However, greater amy-

a
e
e

6.02 ± 0.01c

6.02 ± 0.01c
5.91 ± 0.01d
b

6.46 ± 0.01
5.82 ± 0.01
5.81 ± 0.01
6.10 ± 0.01

lose contents were reported in potato (40.8%), water yam (44.18%),

and Dioscorea pyrifolia (44.47%) (Arueya & Ojesanmi, 2019; Sharlina
1.22
0.07
pH

et al., 2017; Zhao et al., 2018). The amylose content of anchote

starch was in the range normally expected (15%–­30%) in starches
100

100

100
(°C)

except the raw tuber dried at higher temperatures (80°C and 100°C),
DT

80

80

80
60

60

60

in which it was slightly higher, and for the blanched tuber dried at
100°C, it was lower. The starch amylose content determines its func-
LSD (0.05)
Blanched

tional properties such as water absorption capacity (WAC), swelling

Boiled

power (SP), thickening, and gelling (Arueya & Ojesanmi, 2019; Babu
Raw

CV
PT

& Parimalavalli, 2014), which may dictate most of the starch uses.
BIKILA et al. | 651

Therefore, the higher amylose content in raw flour starch contrib- sweet potato flour (5.8–­6.2) (Tortoe et al., 2017b), but slightly higher
utes to its lower functionality, which could limit its application in compared with the pH of yam (5.88), cocoyam (5.22), and plantain
food processing industries such as bakery. (5.74) flours (Oladeji et al., 2013). The pH level dramatically affects
The higher amylose content of anchote starch could imply a flour's performance in many food processing applications. Low pH
higher degree of crystallinity and thermostability (Egharevba, 2019). (<4) flour is not recommended for industrial products, particularly
It was reported that starches with high amylose contents tend to be of for processing bakery and pastry products (Tortoe et al., 2017b).
the B-­t ype crystal structure (Adegunwa et al., 2011). The previously According to this study, the boiled anchote flour dried at a lower
reported B-­type structural pattern of anchote starch is additional temperature (60°C) with a relatively higher pH (6.46) could be bet-
confirmation for the higher amylose content (Abera et al., 2019). ter used as an ingredient in the food industry to formulate food
Anchote starch with high amylase content could be used for firmer, products.
stiffer, and less sticky products (Guillén et al., 2018). Therefore, it can
also be used in health products because amylose has been shown to
reduce insulin and glycemic response, risk of obesity, cardiovascular 3.2.2 | Total soluble solids
disease, and type II diabetes (Sharlina et al., 2017). The raw anchote
flour with high amylose could be suitable for use as an additive that The TSS of raw and pretreated anchote flours dried at different
increases the crispiness of cracker products. It may also be used in temperatures are presented in Table 2. TSS reflect the amounts of
coating and additive industries, which require low permeability to water-­soluble solids present in a sample such as sucrose, fructose,
water and good oxygen-­barrier properties (Sharlina et al., 2017). vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins, organic acids, hormones,
In contrast, the lower amylose content of the pretreated anchote and inorganic salts (Borela, 2018). Both pretreatment and drying
starch implies its application in industries to produce thickeners temperature significantly (p < .05) affected the TSS. Blanching and
and binders. Starch with high amylose exhibits low digestibility be- boiling increased the TSS with the highest observed values of 10.8
cause of its less susceptibility to enzymatic hydrolysis (Adegunwa and 9.2 °Brix, respectively. This finding is in agreement with the
et al., 2011; Agyepong & Barimah, 2018; Egharevba, 2019; Guillén report of Iheagwara et al. (2020) for raw and boiled sweet potato
et al., 2018; Sanful et al., 2017). The branched amylopectin exhibited flours. The increase compared to flour from the raw tubers might be
a lower rate of retrogradation but with increased susceptibility to due to the breakdown of starch into sugars and other soluble mol-
amylase activity (Egharevba, 2019). Since heat-­moisture treatment ecules during the heat treatments (Thriveni et al., 2019).
decreases the starch long chains (Magallanes-­Cruz et al., 2017), di- On the contrary, an increase in drying temperature reduced TSS
gestibility of the pretreated anchote starch could be affected be- values. The reduction could be due to the oxidative breakdown of
cause cooking might contribute to the modification of the starch complex molecules (organic acids, starch, and sugars) into simple
property. molecules such as carbon dioxide and water at higher drying tem-
The pretreated anchote flours with higher amylopectin could peratures (Rahman et al., 2019). The absence of significant changes
be used in food products that might need gelatinization of starches in the TSS value at drying temperatures of 80 and 100°C is con-
(Alcázar-­Alay & Meireles, 2015; Tortoe et al., 2017a). The pretreated sistent with Seifu et al. (2018) report. Compared with other tuber
flours such as starch with high amylopectin can also be used to pro- crops, the result of this study is relatively lower than that of TSS of
duce a low-­density product since amylopectin-­rich starch greatly sweet potato varieties (Caetano et al., 2018). However, it is compara-
expands in size (Yazid et al., 2018). This is confirmed by the relatively ble with the TSS reported for fresh sweet potato (5.8) (Prathiksha &
higher swelling power of the pretreated anchote flours (Table 2). Naik, 2017). As compared to flour from raw tuber, the blanched and
The result suggested that the pretreated anchote flour with higher boiled anchote flours dried at 60°C with relatively high TSS could
amylopectin content might be suited for the production of bakery be used as potential food ingredients to modify the texture of foods
products: jams and jellies. since TSS could affect the thickness and texture of food products.

3.2 | Functional properties 3.2.3 | Water absorption capacity

3.2.1 | pH The WAC of anchote tuber flour as affected by predrying treatment

and drying temperature is presented in Table 2. Both pretreatment
The pH of flours obtained from raw, blanched, and boiled anchote and drying temperature significantly affected (p < .05) the WAC
samples dried at different temperatures ranged from 5.81 to 6.47 of the flours. With an increase in heat treatment during predrying
(Table 2). The effect of blanching and boiling on the flours' pH val- treatment, the WAC increased (boiled > blanched > raw); how-
ues was significant (p < .05). On the contrary, the flour's pH was ever, with an increase in drying temperature, the WAC decreased
significantly (p < .05) decreased with increasing drying temperature, (60 > 80 > 100°C). WAC values in this study are in close agreement
except for the blanched sample. This study illustrated that the flours with the report of Shebabaw (2013) for raw (2.19 g/g) and boiled
under this study were slightly acidic (pH < 7) compared with that of (2.51 g/g) anchote flours. A similar trend was also reported in raw
652 | BIKILA et al.

(3.00 g/g) and boiled (3.26 g/g) Dioscorea bulbifera flours (Aathira flour. The increase might be due to a critical loss of moisture during
& Siddhuraju, 2017) and for blanched yam (Akubor, 2017). The in- drying at higher temperatures (Haruna et al., 2019), thereby allowing
crease could be associated with the heat on the water-­binding sites more oil to be absorbed. In this study, a decrease in the WAC of the
of anchote proteins, which could produce subunits with more water-­ same sample observed with increasing temperature agrees with this
binding sites (Akubor, 2017). This is also in line with the increase concept since WAC and OAC are contradicting in the properties.
in amylopectin content, which binds more water (Table 1). On the When the OAC of anchote flour in this study (0.94–­1.52 g/g) is
contrary, the WAC of the test samples was decreased by increas- compared with other tuber crops, it is comparable with the report
ing drying temperature. This decrease agrees with previous reports of Akubor (2017) for raw (0.97) and blanched (1.08) yam flour, but
for aerial yam, white yam, water yam, and cocoyam flours (Achy it is less than that of orange-­fleshed sweet potato (1.7–­2.1 g/g) flour
et al., 2017; Adegunwa et al., 2011). The decrease might be due to (Akinlua et al., 2018). However, values in the present finding are
the damage of starch granules and the denaturation of the samples’ greater than the OAC of potato (0.63 g/g) flour (Navale et al., 2016).
protein at higher drying temperatures because of the disruption of According to this study, the raw anchote flour dried at a higher tem-
hydrogen bonding and nonpolar hydrophobic interactions responsi- perature could retain its natural flavor better than the blanched and
ble for WAC (Osobie et al., 2013). boiled flours.
WAC, the ability of a product to incorporate water, is a crucial
processing parameter having implications for viscosity, bulking,
and consistency of products (Eke-­ejiofor, 2015; Ojo et al., 2017). 3.2.5 | Water absorption index (WAI)
The higher WAC indicates better flour from functional properties
point of view. The WAC of anchote flour in this study was more re- The WAI of raw, blanched, and boiled anchote flours dried at vary-
markable compared with that of cassava (1.00) and sweet potato ing temperatures is presented in Table 2. The result showed that
(2.00) flours (Eke-­ejiofor, 2015). However, it was comparable with pretreatments (blanching and boiling) and drying temperature
Dioscorea rotundata, Dioscorea alata, and Dioscorea bulbifera flours significantly affected (p < .05) the WAI of the flours. The WAI of
(3.10–­3.90) (Amandikwa et al., 2015). The relatively higher WAC of the boiled anchote flour is the highest (60°C), and that of the raw
anchote flour may be due to the high polar amino acid residues of sample is the lowest. The higher WAI of boiled anchote tuber in-
protein and carbohydrates having an affinity for water molecules dicates the flour's tendency to be gelatinized and well-­
cooked
(Ojo et al., 2017). The increased WAC in food systems enables end-­ (Osibanjo et al., 2017). A similar increase in WAI after blanching
users to manipulate the dough's functional properties in bakery was also reported for three orange-­fleshed sweet potato tuber
products (Eke-­ejiofor, 2015). High WAC could also be advantageous flours (Osibanjo et al., 2017).
in baby food formulation, whereas lower WAC is desirable for mak- On the contrary, the WAI of the flours decreased with increas-
ing gruels (Ojo et al., 2017). The determined WAC of anchote flours ing drying temperature. Our result is in agreement with Ahmed
suggested that the boiled flour was better used to formulate baby et al. (2009) for sweet potato flour. The increase might be due to
foods and bakery products than the raw. a relative increase in protein and carbohydrate contents, level of
starch damage, pore size, capillary, and protein charges (Jamal
et al., 2016; Omoniyi et al., 2016). It is because hydration involves
3.2.4 | Oil absorption capacity the interaction of hydrophilic components of the flour by hydrogen
bonding with water molecules (Jamal et al., 2016).
Oil absorption capacity is an important parameter as it im- Higher WAI values point out the weak association of starch
proves the mouthfeel and retains food products' flavor (Haruna polymers in the native granule requiring much water during recon-
et al., 2019). It is dependent on the surface availability of hydro- stitution (Osibanjo et al., 2017). The WAI observed in pretreated an-
phobic fats and amino acids (Kazeem et al., 2018). The OAC of chote flours (3.40–­5.42 g/g) is higher than in sweet potato (2.35 g/g)
anchote flours obtained from raw and pretreated tubers dried at flour (Omoniyi et al., 2016) but comparable with that of wheat
different temperatures is presented in Table 2. According to the (4.76 g/g) and rice (5.38–­6.26 g/g) flours (Jamal et al., 2016; Kumar
results, both pretreatment and drying temperature significantly af- & Saini, 2016).
fected (p < .05) OAC. Blanching and boiling reduced OAC as com-
pared to the raw sample, which agrees with the results reported
for Dioscorea bulbifera (raw 4.52, boiled 4.11 g/g) and cocoyam 3.2.6 | Water solubility index
(raw 2.03, blanched 1.99 g/g) flours (Aathira & Siddhuraju, 2017;
Akinlua et al., 2018). The decrease in OAC could be due to the Water solubility index of the flours was significantly (p < .05) af-
degradation and decline of hydrophobic amino acids responsible fected by predrying treatments and drying temperature, the highest
for oil binding. value for boiled anchote flour and the lowest for the raw (Table 2).
On the contrary, the effect of drying temperature on OAC is The values increased after blanching and boiling treatments (strong
less significant for blanched and boiled tuber samples. OAC was in- effect) but decreased with an increase in the drying tempera-
creased with an increase in drying temperature for the raw anchote ture (less effect) (Table 2). The higher the solubility, the higher the
BIKILA et al. | 653

protein's functionalities in food (Ige, 2017). The highest WSI was ob- (11.01 g/g) (Alviola & Monterde, 2018). As a result, anchote may
served in the blanched and boiled anchote tubers dried at a lower need modification or mixing with flours having high SP to be used as
temperature (60°C). This result is in line with results reported in an ingredient for bakery products.
orange-­fleshed sweet potato tuber flours (Osibanjo et al., 2017), and
the increases observed in aerial yam (Dioscorea bulbifera) flour from
17.31% to 36.85% after boiling (Achy et al., 2017). In agreement with 3.2.8 | Foaming capacity and foam stability
the trend in our result, a progressive decrease in solubility of orange-­
fleshed sweet potato tuber flour was also reported within the drying The foaming capacity and foaming stability of anchote flour for
temperature range of 40–­60°C (Haruna et al., 2019). The decrease both raw and pretreated samples are presented in Table 2. The
in solubility with an increase in drying temperature could be due to result showed that FC of the raw flour was significantly (p < .05)
critical loss of moisture and progression from fine flour into ashing different from both blanched and boiled flours. The highest FC
level at higher temperature (Haruna et al., 2019). was observed in the raw anchote flour dried at 60°C (33.33%),
However, the WSI of anchote flour in this study is higher than in whereas the lowest was in boiled flour dried at 100°C (3.31%). This
cassava (1.24%), plantain (3.88%), maize (0.70%), and baking wheat variation implies that FC of the flour is critically affected by heat
(4.67%) flours (Arisa et al., 2017; Ige, 2017; Onyango et al., 2013). treatments during predrying treatment and by drying tempera-
The higher WSI can be advantageous in masking or reducing un- ture. Results in this study are also in agreement with the results
desirable taste effects from other components in a given product of Harijono et al. (2013) for raw (44.67% ) and blanched (16.67%)
(Osibanjo et al., 2017). Flours with high water solubility resulting purple water yam flours. Similarly, Akubor (2017) reported FC of
in low paste viscosities should be targeted at weaning and spe- 14% (raw) and 2.0% (blanched) in yam flours. The negative effect of
cialty foods (Olatunde et al., 2016). Therefore, anchote flour with drying temperature to decrease FC of bread fruit flour from 800%
the relatively higher WSI, mainly obtained from blanched and (60°C) to 200% (70°C) was also reported by Kazeem et al. (2018).
boiled tuber dried at a lower temperature, could be used for such The decrease in FC might result from thermal degradation of pro-
food products. tein due to blanching/boiling and elevated drying temperatures,
since the higher FC is attributed to high protein content due to
proteins' surface-­active properties to entrap gas bubbles (Harijono
3.2.7 | Swelling power et al., 2013; Ukom et al., 2018).
The findings showed that the highest FS was observed in the
Swelling power measures the hydration capacity because food eat- raw anchote flour dried at 60°C (20.0%), while the lowest FS was
ing quality is often associated with the water retention in the swol- observed in boiled flour dried at 80°C (Table 2). The result illustrated
len starch granules (Vengaiah et al., 2013). The average SP of the that pretreatment significantly (p < .05) affected FS at 60°C, while
raw, blanched, and boiled anchote flours dried at various tempera- drying temperature significantly (p < .05) affected FS of the raw
tures ranged between 4.56 and 7.20 g/g (Table 2). Blanching and tuber flour. Increasing drying temperature reduced the FS of the raw
boiling had significantly (p <.05) increased the SP of the resulting tuber flours. Harijono et al. (2013) reported a reduction in protein
flours. Similar increases were reported for the SP of raw (6.75 g/g) content by blanching, and hence, FS decreased in yam flours due to
and blanched (8.04 g/g) cocoyam flour (Akinlua et al., 2018). The denaturation of proteins that may lead to its coagulation. FS is re-
enhanced SP of the flours could be due to an increase in hydrophilic lated to protein content because some proteins have surface-­active
groups as a result of heat treatment during blanching and boiling properties to entrap gas bubbles. Their water solubility determines
(Ukom et al., 2018). On the contrary, the effect of drying temperature the ability of proteins to stabilize foaming since soluble protein can
on the SP of the flours was not statistically significant (p >.05). The reduce surface tension at the interface between air bubbles and sur-
result revealed that higher SP was recorded in the boiled flour and rounded liquid (Harijono et al., 2013). Therefore, FS might be influ-
lower in the raw. The SP of anchote flour fall in the range reported enced by the level of solubilized protein and the content of polar
for sweet potato varieties (4.5–­7.9 g/g) (Lai et al., 2016). However, it and nonpolar lipids in a sample. Generally, the result revealed that a
is higher compared with sweet potato (1.42 g/g) and lower relative better FC and FS were obtained in raw anchote flour dried at a lower
to that of cassava (9.76 g/g) flours (Omoniyi et al., 2016; Onyango temperature (60°C). A product with excellent FC and FS values can
et al., 2013). be utilized as a substitute in the production of foam-­forming foods.
The SP of flour might be affected by amylose and protein con- The raw anchote flour can be used for such purposes as compared
tents, which might inhibit the granular swelling due to disulfide and to the blanched and boiled.
intermolecular bonding in protein (Jamal et al., 2016). This agrees
with Table 1, where high amylose content in raw flour corresponds
to low SP. This property may influence bakery product character- 3.2.9 | Color
istics, as flours having lower SP may cause the bakery product not
to swell well (Kusumayanti et al., 2015). The SP of anchote flour is The lightness (L*), redness (a*), yellowness (b*), and total color
lower than that of the commonly used baking ingredient wheat flour change (ΔE) values for the raw and pretreated anchote flours are
654 | BIKILA et al.

TA B L E 3 Effect of pretreatment and drying temperature on color parameters of anchote flour

PT DT (°C) L* a* b* ΔE
d ab c
Raw 60 51.96 ± 1.39 4.28 ± 0.72 11.49 ± 0.81 0
c a bc
80 65.73 ± 0.54 5.03 ± 0.46 12.84 ± 0.31 0
100 74.82 ± 1.59b 4.23 ± 0.47ab 14.02 ± 0.75b 0
ab ab a
Blanched 60 78.04 ± 1.33 4.02 ± 0.37 16.55 ± 0.30 26.59 ± 2.49a
a abc b
80 78.92 ± 1.86 3.57 ± 0.65 13.38 ± 0.35 13.29 ± 2.30 b
100 78.32 ± 0.54ab 3.53 ± 0.76abc 13.67 ± 0.69b 3.62 ± 1.57c
a ab a
Boiled 60 79.81 ± 1.43 4.00 ± 0.71 16.14 ± 0.82 28.26 ± 1.25a
80 81.15 ± 0.88a 2.24 ± 0.07c 13.29 ± 0.53b 15.69 ± 0.56b
a bc bc
100 79.81 ± 1.3 2.79 ± 0.27 12.94 ± 0.22 5.44 ± 2.10 c
LSD (0.05) 2.20 0.93 1.75 9.79
CV% 1.70 9.50 7.67 6.67

Note: Values are mean ±standard deviation of three replications. Means shared the same letters in a column are not significantly different (p < .05).
L* = degree of brightness; a* = degree of redness; b* = degree of yellowness; ΔE = total color difference.
Abbreviations: CV, coefficient of variation; DT, drying temperature; LSD, least significant difference; PT, pretreatment.

presented in Table 3. The L* values of the raw anchote flour were et al., 2019). Generally, the lowest color change was found in the
significantly (p < .05) lower than in the pretreated flours, which im- blanched flour dried at 100°C relative to its corresponding raw
plies that blanching/boiling positively impacted the flour's bright- flour.
ness. Similarly, an increase in drying temperature significantly
(p < .05) increased the brightness of the flour. Better lightness
(L* values) for pretreated samples as compared to the raw might 3.3 | Total polyphenols, flavonoid, and total
be due to the less effect of enzymatic browning, which could be antioxidant capacity
caused by phenolase enzyme (Ngoma et al., 2019). The finding is
in agreement with the report of Nascimento and Canteri (2018), 3.3.1 | Total polyphenol content
in which blanching enhanced the L* value of potato flour from
46.72 to 55.26. The values of a color coordinate a* were also af- Polyphenols are common constituents of plant-­origin food prod-
fected by pretreatment temperature but not significantly (p > .05) ucts, and they have functional and health advantages. The Total
affected by drying temperature. The decrease in redness after polyphenol content (TPC) level of raw and pretreated anchote
blanching/boiling is in line with what was reported for potato flour flours is presented in Figure 2. Both predrying treatment and dry-
(Nascimento & Canteri, 2018). An increase in drying temperature ing temperature showed a significant impact on TPC of the flours.
*
increased the b value in the raw anchote flour but reduced in the The highest TPC (0.80 mg GAE/100 g) was observed in the raw an-
blanched and boiled samples. High yellowness intensity was ob- chote flour dried at a relatively lower temperature (60°C), whereas
served in the flour obtained from blanched and boiled tuber dried the lowest TPC (0.22 mg GAE/100 g) was observed in the boiled
at 60°C. In agreement with this, an increase in b* value by blanch- anchote flour dried at 100°C. This result implies that the higher
ing was reported for water yam (Dioscorea alata) flour (Harijono heat treatment during pretreatment and drying results in the lower
et al., 2013). The result showed that the color of blanched and TPC. Similar results were reported for Cocoyam (Xanthosoma maffa
boiled flours was lighter than in the raw. (Scoth)) flour in which TPC of 0.78, 0.46, and 0.29 mg/100 g for the
Color changes mainly occur due to pigment loss and enzy- raw, blanched, and boiled products, respectively (Ukom et al., 2018).
matic and nonenzymatic reactions during drying (Liu et al., 2019). Kuyu et al. (2018) also reported similar trends in sweet potatoes.
Compared with the raw, the mean total color change (ΔE) in Polyphenol loss increased with an increase in drying temperature,
anchote flour due to blanching and boiling of the tuber ranged which might be associated with the thermal degradation of the
from 3.62 to 28.26 (Table 3). The result revealed that ΔE signifi- polyphenols.
cantly differed (p < .05), suggesting a difference in the color of The TPC of anchote flour in this study (0.22–­0.80 mg GAE/g)
the control and the pretreatments of anchote flour. This obser- is lower than in the previous report for anchote accessions
vation agrees with what was reported for blanched taro flour (Ayalew, 2016). The difference could be ecology, variety, soil
(Baidoo et al., 2014). However, no significant color difference fertility, and maturity that significantly affect the TPC (Hamouz
was found between the blanched and boiled flours. The ΔE was et al., 2006; Omar et al., 2012). However, the result lies in the
significantly (p < .05) decreased with increasing drying tempera- range of TPC for yam and cocoyam (0.07–­1.63 mg GAE/g) as re-
ture. This coincides with that reported in lily bulb flours in which ported by Ukom et al. (2014). On the contrary, the higher TPC
ΔE linearly decreased with increasing drying temperature (Liu was recorded in Dioscorea alata (6.8 mg/g), and even greater TPC
BIKILA et al. | 655

80 (a) Variable
AsA
70
R60
60 BL60

%DPPH Inhibition
B60
50
R80
40 BL80
B80
30
R100
20 BL100
B100
10

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Concentration (mg/mL)

16 Variable
(b) R60
14
BL60
12 B60
R80

%DPPH Inhibition
10 BL80
B80
8
R100
6 BL100
B100
4
F I G U R E 2 Effect of predrying treatments (PT) on TPC of
2
anchote flour dried at different drying temperatures (DT)
0
2.00 4.00 8.00 12.00 16.00
Concentration (mg/mL)

F I G U R E 4 Comparison of anchote flours’ DPPH scavenging

activity with ascorbic acid standard (a) and effect of pretreatment
on the flours’ DPPH scavenging activity (b) (AsA—­ascorbic acid,
R60—­raw dried at 60°C, BL60—­blanched dried at 60°C, B60—­boiled
dried at 60°C, R80—­raw dried at 80°C, BL80—­blanched dried at
80°C, B80—­boiled dried at 80°C, R100—­raw dried at 100°C, BL100—­
blanched dried at 100°C, B100—­boiled dried at 100°C)

of raw, blanched, and boiled anchote flours dried at different

temperatures is presented in Figure 3. The values of TFC in the
anchote flour samples ranged between 0.12 and 0.44 mg CE/g.
Higher TFC was observed in raw anchote dried at 60°C and lower
in the blanched sample dried at 100°C (Figure 3). This implies that
both pretreatment and drying temperature significantly (p < .05)
affected the TFC of the flours. The TFC was reduced by blanching/
boiling and with increasing drying temperature. This finding agrees
with the report of Ukom et al. (2018), in which the flavonoid con-
F I G U R E 3 Effect of pretreatment (PT) on TFC of anchote flour tent of flours prepared from raw, blanched, and boiled cocoyam
dried at different drying temperatures (DT) was 0.4, 0.2, and 0.14 mg/100 g, respectively. The decrease may be
due to thermal decomposition of the compounds during the heat
was reported in sweet potato (10.5–­119 mg GAE/g) (Fidrianny treatments.
et al., 2018; Sakthidevi & Mohan, 2013). Anchote flour contains The TFC in the present finding is similar to the range reported
lower TP than other tuber crops, and the raw anchote flour dried by Ayalew (2016) for anchote accessions (0.41–­0.63 mg CE/g). The
at lower temperature preserved more TPC. slight variation may be due to production ecology, variety, and soil
fertility (Hamouz et al., 2006; Omar et al., 2012). The result also lies
in the range of 0.031–­1.55 mg CE/g reported for yam and cocoyam
3.3.2 | Total flavonoid content (Ukom et al., 2014). On the contrary, it is lower than that obtained
for Dioscorea alata (12.1 mg/g) and sweet potato (6–­178 mg QE/g)
Flavonoids are significant components of phenolic compounds tubers’ extracts (Fidrianny et al., 2018; Sakthidevi & Mohan, 2013).
with high human health benefits because they have more potent This comparison might show that anchote flour contains relatively
antioxidant activity than other phenolic groups due to multiple hy- low TF, though they have immense dietary importance as phytonu-
droxyl groups in their structure (D'Amelia et al., 2018). The TFC trients. From this finding, it is possible to conclude that minimizing
656 | BIKILA et al.

TA B L E 4 Pearson's correlation coefficients among the measured parameters of anchote flour properties

WAC OAC WAI SP FC FS TPC L* AC

WAC 1
OAC −0.794a 1
WAI 0.968a −0.736a 1
a a
SP 0.798 −0.730 0.787a 1
c
FC −0.503 0.282 −0.539c −0.699a 1
c c c
FS −0.427 0.070 −0.485 −0.488 0.908a 1
c c
TPC −0.375 0.125 −0.452 −0.480 0.758a 0.851a 1
b c a a a
L* 0.624 −0.372 0.477 0.739 −0.964 −0.918 −0.808a 1
a a b a c
AC −0.76 0.858 −0.615 −0.892 0.559 0.286 0.272 −0.608b 1

Note: L* = whiteness.
Abbreviations: AC, amylose content; FC, foaming capacity; FS, foam stability; OAC, oil absorption capacity; SP, swelling power; TPC, total polyphenol
content; WAC, water absorption capacity; WAI, water absorption index.
a
Significant p ≤ .0001; bsignificant p ≤ .001; csignificant p ≤ .05.

the impacts of pretreatment could contribute to retaining more fla- correlation coefficient, as presented in Table 4. Accordingly, WAC
vonoids in anchote flour. showed a strong positive correlation with WAI (r = .968) and SP
(r = .798), while negatively correlated with OAC (r = −.794). This
relation agrees with the negative correlation reported between the
3.3.3 | Total antioxidant capacity WAC and OAC in rice and maize flours (Wani & Kumar, 2015). A
strong correlation between WAC and SP was also reported in pota-
Antioxidants are substances that inhibit oxidation by reaction with toes flours (Klang et al., 2019). The OAC of flours, in turn, showed a
free radicals and the decomposition of free radicals forming lipid hy- significant (p < .001) negative correlation with WAI (r = −.735) and
droperoxides (Curayag et al., 2019). The antioxidant activities of an- SP (r = −.730), where WAI exhibited a strong positive association
chote flour extracts as affected by predrying treatment and drying with SP (r = .787). The L* showed a strong negative correlation with
temperature were evaluated by determining the ability to scavenge TPC (r = −.808) of the flours. The FC and FS of the flours were highly
DPPH-­free radicals. The capacity of the flours to scavenge the free correlated (r = .908), and both of them showed a positive correlation
radical was compared with the activity of a standard ascorbic acid with TPC and TFC. This might be because of the dependence of TFC
(Figure 4). The result revealed that all the tuber flour extracts had a on protein content (Ukom et al., 2018), which decreased by pretreat-
deficient radical scavenging activity relative to the standard, which ment and increasing drying temperature (Bikila et al., 2020). The
is expected from low-­moisture dried products compared with fresh correlation study also revealed that AC was negatively correlated
fruits and vegetables. Figure 4 shows that the antioxidant activity with SP (r = −.89) and WAC (r = −.76) of the anchote flour, which is
of the flours was decreased by pretreatments and increasing drying in agreement with the reports of Babu and Parimalavalli (2014) in
temperature. This observation agrees with the decrease in antioxi- sweet potato and Chisenga et al. (2019) in cassava.
dant activity of purple yam flour by processing (Larief et al., 2018) The correlation analysis showed that the flour functional prop-
and orange-­fleshed sweet potato by increasing drying temperature erties WAC, WAI, and SP changed in a similar pattern by the treat-
(Kuyu et al., 2018). The decrease may be due to the heat instabil- ments. In contrast, the other groups OAC, WSI, FC, FS, and AC were
ity of the antioxidant components of the tuber when treated with affected negatively by the same factors. The result showed that the
hot water and dried at higher temperature (Kuyu et al., 2018; Larief treatments (blanching/boiling and drying temperature) increase one
et al., 2018). The result showed that the polyphenol content directly of the parameters WAC, WAI, and SP would increase the other and
contributes to the antioxidant activity potential of the flours. The vice versa. These parameters increased by blanching and boiling
antioxidant activity of raw anchote flour dried at a lower tempera- compared with the raw. Similarly, any change in either WSI, FC, FS,
ture (60°C) was comparatively higher due to more polyphenolic AC, or TPC of the flours due to pretreatment and drying tempera-
compounds. ture would change the others in a similar trend.

3.4 | Correlation between selected 4 | CO N C LU S I O N S

flour parameters
Both predrying treatments and drying temperatures exhibited an
The relationship between physical and functional variables meas- impact on the amylose and amylopectin ratio. Relatively higher
ured for anchote tuber flours was evaluated using Pearson's amylose ration was observed in a flour from raw anchote, which
BIKILA et al. | 657

can be used to produce firmer, stiffer, and less stick food prod- ORCID
ucts. The higher the amylose ratio could also correspond with the Adugna Mosissa Bikila https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7478-7932
presence of more resistant starch for less digestibility of the prod- Yetenayet Bekele Tola https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8247-4546
uct for better health benefits associated with noncommunicable Sirawdink Fikreyesus Forsido https://orcid.
chronic diseases. However, the lower amylose from pretreated org/0000-0003-4157-015X
flours can be used as a thickener and binder in food industries.
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