EFFECT OF DRYING TEMPERATURE ON THE NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF TIGER NUT (CYPERUS ESCULENTUS)

The effect of drying temperature on the nutritional quality of tiger nut was studied using (AOCS) American Oil Chemists standard method in seraph oil mill Nigeria limited KM 7 Gboko road Makurdi, Benue State.Fresh Tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus) was purchased from North Bank market, Makurdi in Benue State.The samples were manually cleaned to remove foreign matters.A total of 9kg of sorted tiger nut was used for the experiment and was divided into three equal parts which is 3kg each for 70°C, 85°C and 100°C drying temperature.The result from the investigation indicated that higher drying temperature reduces the proximate composition of tiger nut.The moisture content ranged from 3.33% -4.627%, protein ranged from 2.018% -4.009%, fibre ranged from 3.018% -7.029%, oil/fats ranged from 6.229%-11.977%,ash ranged from 1.006% -1.97% with the drying temperature of 100°C having the least value of the measured proximate compositions and 70°C having the highest values of the measured proximate compositions.ANOVA on the measured proximate compositions of tiger nut revealed there's no significant difference at P 0.05 in the moisture content, but there's significant difference (P 0.05) for the protein, fibre, oil/fats and ash content as the temperature increases from 70°C to 100°C.Based on the findings, it is recommended that a lower temperature be used in drying of tiger nut to maintain the nutritional quality.