Issue 02

Development of ready-to-eat breakfast flakes with green banana (musa acuminata) and jackfruit seeds (artocarpus heterophyllus) flour: a comprehensive analysis of nutritional and functional properties

2025-03-10T07:08:04Z

Development of ready-to-eat breakfast flakes with green banana (musa acuminata) and jackfruit seeds (artocarpus heterophyllus) flour: a comprehensive analysis of nutritional and functional properties Banu, M.W.N.; Kariyawasam, K.M.G.M.M. Green banana flour (GBF) and jackfruit seed flour (JSF) present sustainable solutions for reducing banana waste and offering a gluten-free alternative in the food industry. The present study explores the feasibility of a composite mixture of GBF and JSF as a nutritious option for preparing breakfast flakes, evaluating their proximate composition and functional properties. The flakes were formulated with 15% JSF and varying ratios of GBF and Corn flour (w/w); T1 (50:35) T2 (60:25), T3 (70:15), T4 (80:5), and a control sample (C) with 100% corn flour. Physico-functional properties of GBF and JSF, proximate composition and antioxidant activity of the breakfast flakes were determined using standard protocols. Sensory evaluation was conducted by a semi-trained panel using a 5-point hedonic scale. The physico-functional data suggested JSF had higher water absorption (24.66±0.58%) and oil absorption (52.33±2.52%) than GBF (5.08±0.38%, 6.14±0.38%). In the sensory data, the T3 sample exhibited the highest scores for taste (4.03±0.91), texture (3.73±0.87), crunchiness (4.03±0.13), and overall acceptability (3.90±0.95). Incorporating GBF and JSF positively impacted nutritional content, with T4 showing the highest crude fibre levels (5.86±0.11%) and total ash content (2.84±0.05%). Additionally, antioxidant activity was significantly elevated (P<0.05) in flakes with GBF and JSF, with the highest observed in T4 (19.70±0.14%) followed by T3 (18.66±0.13). Storage study data confirmed a shelf-life of 4 weeks for the developed flake samples without added preservatives at room temperature. Therefore, the present study demonstrates the potential of GBF and JSF as a healthy alternative in the bakery industry, offering both nutritional benefits and favourable sensory properties.

Impact of economic crisis and socio-demographic factors on milk and milk product consumption of undergraduates: a case study of Eastern university, Sri Lanka

2025-03-10T06:22:54Z

Impact of economic crisis and socio-demographic factors on milk and milk product consumption of undergraduates: a case study of Eastern university, Sri Lanka Vahaful Nisath, M.F.; De Silva, S.T.D.; Vanajah, L.; Pagthinathan, M.; Mithushan, P. Milk consumption is influenced by a wide range of factors, including gender, age, income, education, ethnicity, health condition, and presence of children in the household. The current study was designed to investigate the effects of the recent economic crisis and socio-demographic factors on the milk and milk product consumption patterns of undergraduates. The questionnaire survey was used as the primary data collection tool. The survey was conducted with a representative sample of undergraduates (n=238) using a self-structured online questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. As per the results, the majority of undergraduates in the sample size consume raw milk (83%). Therefore, cattle milk was the most widely consumed type of raw milk (84%). Ice cream is the most popular milk product (99%) in sample size. Despite the economic crisis, the majority of undergraduates (53%) maintain steady milk consumption habits. However, the milk consumption of undergraduates during the financial crisis was significantly associated with factors including locality (p=0.017), family size (p=0.014), monthly family income (p=0.000), parental educational level (p=0.000), and employment status (p=0.014). Further, this study investigated the fact that the purchasing frequency of milk and milk products was not associated with socio-demographic backgrounds (P>0.05).

The factors inducing undergraduate entrepreneur satisfaction towards blended learning for entrepreneurship development in Sri Lanka: a case study at university of Colombo institute for agro technology and rural sciences

2025-03-10T05:08:45Z

The factors inducing undergraduate entrepreneur satisfaction towards blended learning for entrepreneurship development in Sri Lanka: a case study at university of Colombo institute for agro technology and rural sciences Siriwardena, B.P.; Abeywickrama, L.M.; Sandika, A.L.; Vidanapathirana, N.P. Blended learning has become increasingly important in higher education, especially in the context of entrepreneurship education in Sri Lanka. Despite its relative novelty in the country's higher education context, this study explores into its impact on undergraduate entrepreneurs' satisfaction with blended learning at the University of Colombo Institute for Agro-Technology and Rural Sciences. This research seeks to identify the key determinants of satisfaction and improve the quality of blended learning experiences for undergraduate entrepreneurs at the institute, contributing to the ongoing advancement of entrepreneurship education in Sri Lanka. The study covers the entire population (204) of undergraduate entrepreneurs pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Agro-Technology, ensuring a comprehensive perspective. To gather insights, a pre-tested questionnaire incorporating socio-economic information along with dimensions such as the learner, instructor, course, technology, design, environmental, and opportunity were used, and respondents were instructed to select the most an appropriate answer on the Likert scale, which ranges from strongly agree to strongly disagree, to express their views. The study's results showed that in the blended learning context, dimensions such as the instructor, course, design, environmental, and opportunity were positively and significantly correlated with the satisfaction levels of undergraduate entrepreneurs. In contrast, the learner and technology dimensions did not demonstrate a significant correlation with satisfaction. Policymakers should be aware of these features and prioritise the improvement of Sri Lanka's higher education system, with a particular emphasis on entrepreneurial development.

Determination of proximate composition and antioxidant properties of selected underutilized fruits (namnam, lovi, roseapple, pumello, and sapota) grown in sri lank

2025-03-07T04:32:29Z

Determination of proximate composition and antioxidant properties of selected underutilized fruits (namnam, lovi, roseapple, pumello, and sapota) grown in sri lank Baddegama, S.T.; Ranaweera, K.K.D.S.; Sarananda, H.S.; Wijesundera, B.L.D.L.D.; De Silva, R.N. The present experiment was conducted at the Fruit Research and Development Institute Horana, Sri Lanka, from 2020 to 2021 to evaluate the proximate composition, antioxidant activity, ascorbic acid and total phenolic content of five underutilized fruits, namely Namnam, Lovi, Roseapple, Pumello and Sapota using Association of Official Agricultural Chemists (AOAC) methods. The parameters determined were moisture, crude fiber, crude fat, sugar, antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, titratable acidity, pH, total soluble solids and ascorbic acid. Rose apple and Namnam fruits recorded the highest (91.47%) and the lowest (68.87%) moisture content, respectively. The Pumello fruit exhibited the lowest fat, crude fiber, total sugar, non–reducing sugar and reducing sugar contents with the values of 0.01%, 1.33%, 005%, 0.03%, and 0.02%, respectively. Sapota reported the highest fat, total soluble solids and pH values of 1.33%, 16%, and 4.74%, respectively. Roseapple recorded the highest crude fiber (5.59%) and the total sugar content (0.81%), while Lovi showed the lowest pH (2.29) and highest titratable acid content (2.01%) Pumello had the highest ascorbic acid concentration, whereas Lovi had the lowest value. Pumello and Namnam demonstrated the lowest IC50 value (0.03). Sapota and Roseapple had the highest (20.49) and lowest (2.16) total phenolic content. The study emphasizes the diverse nutritional elements in these underutilized fruits, highlighting their potential as valuable sources of supplementary nutrients.