Browsing by Author "Dharmarathne, T.T.D."

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    Identification of Retting Enhancing Microbial Strains in Coconut Fibre Extraction
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2019-02) Thilakarathna, H.M.N.P.; Fernando, J.A.K.M.; Dharmarathne, T.T.D.; Senavirathna, A.M.W.K.
    Coir fibre is extracted from coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) husk. Natural retting process needs at least 3 months period for obtaining good quality bristle fibre. This study was carried out to reduce the retting time by introducing previously identified pectin and cellulose degrading microbial strains from bio chemical tests. For this experiment, coconut variety of CRIC60 from Bandirippuwa estate in Lunuwila was used. Retting experiments were carried out using five different combinations of microbes namely, Serratia rubidea, Bacillus safensis, Bacillus thuringiensis and Staphylococcus sciuri. The control was water. The experiment was carried out for two months. The coconut husk samples were collected by two week intervals and Ceylon drum machine was used for the fibre extraction. The percentages of bristle fibre and its qualities were analyzed. The ret liquor samples were also analyzed for pH and Electrical Conductivity. Tensile strength (118.39±1.9 N mm-2), breaking load (3.27±0.36 N), average length (127.11±2.39 mm) and fineness (27.26±3.33 g km-1) of initial sample were found to be increased to 145.48±3.97 N mm-2, 4.35±0.28 N, 152.01±2.52 mm and 57.29±1.31 g km-1, respectively with the treatment of coconut husks with Staphylococcus sciuri, Serratia rubidea, Bacillus safensis, Bacillus thuringiensis mixture for 4 to 8 weeks. Further, impurities (%) was reduced from 3.07±0.25 to 1.06±0.20 with this treatment. These values were satisfied with SLS Standards. Fibre percentage and the quality of ret liquor indicated by pH and Electrical Conductivity were also increased. Good quality bristle fibre can be obtained from coconut husks by treating with Staphylococcus sciuri, Serratiarubidea, Bacillus safensis, Bacillus thuringiensis consortium for 4-8 weeks.
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    Quality Improvement of Coconut Butter Spread
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2019) Marasinghe, U.S.S.; Lakdusinghe, W.M.K.; Dharmarathne, T.T.D.; Wijesinghe, W.A.J. P.
    Coconut butter spread is a delicious product from whole coconut meat and oil separation at top of the product has been identified as a major defect which can leads to consumer dissatisfaction. Thus, this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of stabilizers and homogenization speeds on the layer separation of coconut butter spread. Coconut butter spread was prepared with desiccated coconut, peanut, coco powder, sugar and salt by grinding method. Level of coco powder (1.5, 2 and 2.5% (w/w)) was changed to select the best product through a sensory evaluation of five-point hedonic scale with 30 number of human objects. Four combinations of stabilizers Soy Lecithin (SL), Sodium Caseinate (SC), Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate (SSL) and SC+SSL with two levels (0.25 and 0.5% (w/w)) and two levels of homogenization speeds (11,000 and 19,000 rpm) were evaluated as a three factor factorial design with three replicates. The height of separated oil layer was measured after two-week interval and best five treatments were subjected for quality analysis. Free fatty acid (FFA) content, peroxide value and moisture content were analyzed and best three treatments were selected for sensory evaluation with control (without stabilizers and homogenization). Proximate and microbial analysis was done for the selected best product. Data was analyzed by ANOVA (p<0.05) using Minitab software package. The sensory result revealed that, 2% (w/w) coco powder was provided the highest consumer preference. The lowest level of oil separation (0.18 mm) was observed on 0.5% (w/w) of SC+SSL stabilizer with 19000 rpm and it contained significantly low level of FFA (0.17±0.02%) and moisture content (0.81±0.04%) and highest consumer preference. This product conations 1.42±0.01% moisture content, 41.53±2.8% fat, 1.8±0.002% ash, 8.68±1.18% fiber and 16.96±0.98% protein. SC+SSL with 0.5% (w/w) ≤ level and 19,000 rpm ≤ homogenization is preferred to overcome the oil layer separation in coconut butter spread.