DETERMINATION OF MICROBIAL QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF STORED CINNAMON QUILLS AT DIFFERENT MOISTURE LEVELS
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Date
2014
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Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka
Abstract
Since cinnamon is one of the major spice crops in Sri Lanka, maintenance of the quality of the processed cinnamon is very important. Microbial infection of processed cinnamon quills makes the final product less demanded with high post-harvest losses. Experiments were conducted to identify particular types of fungi that thrive on cinnamon quills and to determine the effect of moisture content, Relative Humidity, temperature and the storage period on the microbial quality and quantity. Cinnamon quills collected from three different places were subjected to analysis for quantification and identification of different types of microbes under the variations of temperature and relative humidity during storage period and subsequent culturing was done. According to obtained colony and microscopic characteristics, Rhizopus sp., Penicillium sp., Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus were the most common types of fungi encountered on cinnamon quills. But the emergence and the quantity of fungal colony forming units were varied with the moisture level, Relative Humidity, location and the availability of initial inoculum. There was a strong significant symbiotic relationship between number of colony forming units of fungi and bacteria which was increased with the increment of Relative Humidity, decrement of temperature and available moisture content The maximum number of fungal and bacterial colonies was observed with 80 — 90 % of
°
relative humidity, 10-20 % of moisture, 28-31°C of temperature and 15- 35 days of
storage period. The cinnamon samples taken from the processing center has less microbial infestation than the samples taken from the other farmer levels due to proper post-harvest and processing practices.
Key words — Cinnamon quills, fungi, colony forming units, microbial quality
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Export Agriculture Degree Programme (EAG)