Effects of Double-Walled Adobe Storage Structure on Moisture and Dry Matter of Cassava Roots

Millions of people in about 105 nations around the world including Nigeria rely on cassava as a major staple crop to supply their nutritional starch demands. Cassava roots are an important source of food and feed, as well as biofuel, biodegradable plastic manufacturing, and starch production. Fresh cassava roots are scarcely available despite their numerous uses. Because of a phenomenon known as Postharvest Physiological Deterioration (PPD), cassava roots have a short shelf life. The scope of this study is confined to the construction of a double-walled adobe structure suitable for storing cassava roots (TME 419), the determination of weight loss of stored samples, and the determination of dry matter and moisture content in sampled roots using the oven-drying method. A novel storage system is used in an effort to increase the shelf life of cassava roots by creating a microclimate in the structure. Two storage structures (AD1 and AD2) were erected for this experiment. Adobe bricks with a 0.15 m thickness and a 0.20 m wall separation make up the first building designated AD1. It is a cylindrical, double-wall construction. Straw that is sourced locally is used to construct the control, the second storage building. This study is aimed at evaluating the performance of a double-wall adobe structure for storage in a bid to prolong the shelf life of stored cassava roots. Over the course of 10 weeks, from November to February, samples were stored in each storage unit. Temperature, relative humidity, and sample mass were among the variables that were tracked throughout the storage period. The mass of individual samples were measured once per week over the 10 week storage period. The average dry matter and moisture content percentage for samples stored in AD1 was found to be 43.83% and 56.17% respectively. Likewise, the average dry matter and moisture content percentage for samples stored in AD2 47.88% and 52.12% respectively. The study showed that the double-wall adobe storage system demonstrated higher efficiency than the control, with an average mass loss of 25.64% as opposed to 42.95% over the storage period.