Physico-chemical characterization of fresh tuber of water yam (Dioscorea alata) germplasm

Abstract

Information of the physical and chemical characteristics in water yam tuber (Dioscorea alata) is needed to complete the database of germplasm, support the breeding activities and utilization for both food and industry purposes. This study was conducted at the Food Chemistry Laboratory of Iletri to observe the physical and chemical characteristics of the water yam fresh tuber derived from 22 Iletri's germplasm accessions. The fleshed of water yam color were varied, namely white, yellow, mixture of white and purple, white and yellow, yellow and purple. The trial was arranged using a completely randomized design with three replications. The moisture content ranged from 56.08-80.03%, dry matter 18.82-43.02%, ash 2.56-4.97% dw, starch 61.81-75.87% dw, amylose 28.40-43.15% dw, and reducing sugar 0.27-1.49% dw. The fiber content varied widely from 4.33% to 13.99% dw. The water yam also had a wide range of texture, ranging from soft to hard with a hardness level of 6.78-57.78 N. Based on the starch and fiber contents of the fresh tuber, MLGAR 0071, MLGAR 0183, MLGAR 0003 and MLGAR 0006 accessions were potential to be used as parent materials in breeding program to obtain superior varieties of water yam with high starch and fiber contents.