Browsing by Author "Nilushiny, A.M."

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Effect of palmyrah coir dust on physicochemical properties of potting media and on growth and yield of chilli
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2015) Puthisigamani, S.; Jayasinghe, H.A.S.L.; Gunadasa, H.K.S.G.; Nilushiny, A.M.; Vijeindran, S.S.
    Palmyrah (Borassus flabellifer) coir dust is a major by-product of the fibre industry. Coir waste or coir pith is generally a mixture of dust, bits and fibres of shortlength that is rejected during the process of coir extraction. Coir dust is a spongy material which can absorb ample quantity of water compared to its weight and it is a valuable carbon source which could be used in agriculture to maintain and improve the organic matter content of depleted soils(Vidhana Arachchi and Somasin, 1997). Organic matter can improve the soil properties in long run (Kularathne et al., 2005).Although Palmyrah coir dust is a very useful carbon source for agriculture, it is wasted by burning at the factory. No studies have been undertaken to investigate the beneficial effects of palmyrah coir dust which can be used in agriculture. This research was conducted to study the effect of palmyrah coir dust on physicochemical properties of potting media and on growth & yield of capsicum. Methodology A pot experiment was carried out at Palmyrah Research Institute, Jaffna under greenhouse conditions(temperature 30.1 C and relative humidity 80.9 % during day time). Six treatments were used: T1:-control (soil alone), T2:- palmyrah coir dust: soil (1:1), T3:- palmyrah coir dust: soil (1:3), T4:-palmyrah coir dust: soil: sand (2:1:1), T5:- palmyrah coir dust: soil: sand (1:2:1), T6:- palmyrah coir dust: soil: sand (1:1:2). The experiment was laid in a Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with three replicates. Hungarian Yellow Wax variety was selected as the test crop considering its short harvesting period.Potting media were prepared by mixing palmyrah coir dust, soil and sand in a different ratio on weight basis according to the treatments. All agronomic practices were undertaken according to the guidelines provided by the Department of Agriculture (DAO, 2006). Plant height (cm), crop yield (g), bulk density (g/cm ), porosity (%), water retention (% wt), pH, electrical conductivity (µs/cm), cation exchange capacity (meq/100g), available nitrogen (%), available phosphorus (%), organic carbon (%), exchangeable calcium (%) and exchangeable magnesium (%) were measured. Data was analyzed using SAS software package and the mean separation was done by Least Significant Difference (LSD) at p=0.05 probability level. Results and Discussion Significantly, the highest bulk density (1.41± 0.05 g/cm ) was recorded in the control treatment (T1). As given in Table 1, the lowest porosity (88.63 ± 0.05 %) and the lowest water retention (33.64 ± 0.05 %) were recorded in control treatment (T1). The highest porosity (95.75 ± 0.05 %) and the highest water retention (153.26 ± 0.05 %) were recorded in T4 treatment (palmyrah coir dust: soil: sand 2:1:1) followed by T5 treatment and T3 treatment at 5 % probability level. Palmyrah coir dust is a light weight material with low bulk density (0.128 g/cm ).Incorporation of palmyrah coir dust increased the porosity and water retention of potting media and reduced the bulk density.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Formulation, Preparation and Preservation of Palmyrah Fruit (Borassus Flabellifer L.) Jelly
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2016) Jeyarajasingam', M.; Wijesinghe, W.A.J.P.; Bandara, S.M.I.P.G.; Nilushiny, A.M.; Endred, S.S.
    Palmyrah fruit has high nutritive value but it has received less attention from palmyrah industry. It could be utilized to prepare jelly from fruit pulp. The study was carried out at Palmyrah Research Institute to develop a fruit jelly from the Palmyrah fruit pulp. Several preliminary experiments were carried out to find out the optimum amount of each ingredient which could be added in Palmyrah Fruit Jelly (PFJ) production. In each experiment one ingredient was changed in different amounts keeping the others constant in weigh basis. Then, all ingredients were interpreted in percentage. A sensory evaluation was performed and results were analysed using Minitab 17.0 software. Freidman's test and Turkey's pairwise comparison were used to find the optimum level of each ingredient for PFJ. Nutritional composition of developed PFJ and Preserved Palmyrah Fruit Pulp (PPFP) were determined. Yeast and mould count of PFJ packed in three different packing materials such as transparent polypropylene cup, high impact polystyrene white cup and low density polythene cup were determined in 15 days interval to find out shelf life of PFJ under normal atmospheric condition. According to sensory evaluation results 40g of PPFP, 50g of sugar, 0.5g of citric acid and 0.5g of seaweed extract were selected as most acceptable formula to develop the PFJ. Developed PFJ contained 29.40% moisture, 1.67% protein, 6.48% reducing sugar, 56.05% total sugar and 0.89% ash contents, 0.65% titrtable acidity, 3.50 pH, 65.51% TSS, Ca (25.6 mg/100g), P (5.06 mW100g) , Fe (20.67 mg/100g) and vitamin C (0.86 mg/100g). Used PPFP for jelly preparation contained 0.41% protein, 0.89% ash, and 5.92% reducing sugar, 8.72% total sugar, 0.34% titrtable acidity, Ca (30.67 mg/100g), P (11.11 mg/100g), Fe (13.85 mg/100g) and vitamin C (1.47 mg/100g). The acidity, pH and TSS were in recommended range and microbial colony was not observed up to two months. One cup ofjelly in polypropylene cup can be sold for Rs. 30.00 while one cup ofjelly in HIPS and LDPE at Rs. 25.00 Keywords: Palmyrah fruit pulp, Fruit jelly, Value addition, Preservation, Packaging