Research Article

Received: 15 October 2009 Revised: 21 November 2009 Accepted: 7 December 2009 Published online in Wiley Interscience: 25 January 2010

(www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI 10.1002/jsfa.3879

Effects of micronization on the physicochemical properties of peels of three root and tuber crops
Chien-Chun Huang,a Yi-Fen Chenb and Chiun-CR Wangb
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of micronization on the physicochemical properties of the peels of root and tuber crops, including yam (Dioscorea alata L.), taro (Colocasia esculenta L.) and sweet potato (Ipomea batatas L.). Two continuous milling sections, including hammer milling and ball milling, were applied to three samples to obtain micro-sized particles of root and tuber peels. The micronization by ball-milling treatment for 10 h was carried out to investigate the distribution of particle sizes and the changes in physiochemical properties. RESULTS: The results indicate that the peels of three crops appeared to be signicantly decreased in particle size after 10 h of ball-milling treatment. Moreover, the ball-milling treatments resulted in the redistribution of ber components from insoluble ber to soluble ber. The micronization treatments decreased the bulk density but increased the solubility and water-holding capacities of the micronized peels. CONCLUSION: Our ndings suggested that micronization treatments can improve functional properties of the ber components of micronized peels, which provide a good source of dietary ber in food applications. c 2010 Society of Chemical Industry Keywords: peels of root and tuber; micronization; ball milling; physicochemical properties

INTRODUCTION
Fruit and vegetable processing produces a considerable amount of byproduct, which is a problem since the plant material is usually prone to microbial spoilage. Hundreds of tons of tuber peel are produced annually in the food industry of Taiwan. The peel of root and tuber is considered to be waste, which is usually discarded as fertilizer or used as animal feed. However, the peel of root crop contains a wide variety of minerals and trace elements and is a good source of dietary ber.1 4 Dietary ber is desirable not only for its nutritional properties but also for its functional and technological properties.5 Dietary ber has thus been revealed as food ingredients to provide health benets to gastrointestinal and physiological functions.6,7 In this regard, dietary ber has been successfully applied in improving cooking yield, reducing formulation cost, and enhancing texture in food processing.8 Apart from dietary ber, these health benets from peel are mainly attributed to organic micronutrients such as carotenoids, polyphenolics, tocopherols, and vitamins.9 In recent years, the concepts of applying micronization in food research and development have gained much attention. The reduction of particle size by micronization can alter structures, surface areas and functional properties and allow for new applications in academia as well as in the food industry.10 15 A comprehensive understanding of the inuences of micronization on the characteristics and antioxidant properties of water caltrop pericarp would be useful for improving their functionality and potential applications.16 Micronization techniques, including ball milling, jet milling, and high-pressure micronization, were shown

to effectively reduce particle sizes (P < 0.05) and improve the functionality of carrot insoluble ber.15 The ball-milling technique has been widely used to produce compact dusts, amorphous compounds and in the preparation of emulsions such as paints, inks, and pharmaceutical products.17 The peels of roots and tubers have been identied as having high ber content and are considered a good source of dietary ber. Since the particle sizes of ber materials might be related to some of their functional properties, a further study on the micronization treatment of peels could give some useful insight into their potential applications in the food industry. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of micronization on the functional properties of three root and tuber peels by using hammer-milling and ball-milling processing.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Sample preparation and milling treatment Three different root and tuber crops, i.e., yam (Dioscorea alata L. var. Dasan), taro (Colocasia esculenta L. var. Betelnut), and sweet

Correspondence to: Chiun-CR Wang, Department of Food and Nutrition, Providence University, Shalu 43301, Taiwan, ROC. E-mail: jcwang@pu.edu.tw

a Department of Health Nutrition and Biotechnology, Asia University, Wufeng 413, Taiwan

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b Department of Food and Nutrition, Providence University, Shalu 433, Taiwan

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C-C Huang, Y-F Chen, C-CR Wang using a ber assay kit (Megazyme K-TDFR, Wicklow, Ireland). TDF was calculated as the sum of IDF and SDF. All of the DF contents were corrected for residual protein, ash, and blank.

Table 1. Proximate compositions of sweet potato, taro, and yam peels Proximate composition (g kg1 , dry basis) Variety Sweet potato peel Taro peel Yam peel Protein 53.3c 70.6b 191.1a Lipid 29.6a 10.9b 6.4c Starch 597.9a 499.6b 302.3c Ash 62.0c 62.5b 69.3a Total dietary ber 211.1c 276.1b 317.7a

Means with the same letter within the same column are not signicantly different (P < 0.05).

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) Scanning electron micrographs of micronized peels of tubers were obtained using a Model ABT-150S instrument (Topon Corp., Tokyo, Japan). Micronized peels were sprinkled on double-sided adhesive tape xed on an aluminium stub. The sample was coated with goldpalladium (Model JBS-ES 150 ion sputter coater, Topon Corp.). An accelerating potential of 15 kV was used during electron microscopy in this study.

potato (Ipomea batatas L. var. Tainung 57), were obtained from local farms. All root and tuber crops were washed and peeled. A manual peeler with a xed peeling gap ranging in size from 1.0 to 1.2 mm was used to give a constant thickness of peel. The proportion of peel from three root and tuber crops was calculated in each batch (50 kg) of sampling. The peels of root and tuber crops were collected and dried in an air-oven at 45 C for 48 h. The dried peels were nely ground using a hammer mill (RT-08, RuonChon Co., Taichung, Taiwan). The ground peels were collected and placed on a standard sieve (200 mesh, 74 m) and mechanically shaken for 20 min. The ltered fraction was selected for continuous micronization in a ball mill (Model PM100, Retsch, Haan, Germany). For ball milling, a ber sample and agate balls (1 mm diameter) at a volume ratio of 1 : 1 (10 g each) were added to a 50 mL agate grinding bowl. The ber sample was then ground by the agate balls at 600 rpm for 110 h. After passing through the micronizer, the micronized sample from ball milling was collected and stored at 20 C in double Ziploc bags until analysis. Proximate compositions AOAC methods18 were applied to determine the proximate compositions of moisture, protein, fat, and ash content of the root and tuber peels. Values were multiplied by a conversion factor of 6.25 to obtain the protein value. Total, insoluble, and soluble dietary ber The separations and determination of total dietary ber (TDF), insoluble dietary ber (IDF), and soluble dietary ber (SDF) in the root and tuber peels were done according to method 985.2918

Particle size analyses The particle sizes of each fraction of micronized peels were estimated by a laser particle size analyzer (Analysette 22-Economy, Fritsch GmbH, Idar-Oberstein, Germany).

Functional properties For the determination of bulk density (g mL1 ), a 10 mL graduated cylinder was carefully lled with a known amount of ber sample. The bottom of the cylinder was gently tapped on a laboratory bench several times until there was no further decrease in the sample level.16,19 The solubility of the sample was determined by stirring the sample in distilled water (1 : 10 w/v) at room temperature for 1 h. After centrifugation (1000 g) for 10 min, the supernatant were collected, freeze-dried, and weighed. The solubility was calculated as the ratio of weight of supernatant to weight of sample.16,20 The water-holding capacity (g water g1 sample) and oil-holding capacity (g oil g1 sample) of the sample were determined according to the methods described by Raghavendra et al.14 The density of the vegetable oil used was 0.85 g mL1 .

Statistical analysis The mean values and standard deviations of each analysis are reported. All data were analyzed using the ANOVA procedure. When the F-values were signicant (P < 0.05) in ANOVA, the least signicant difference (LSD) test was employed to compare the treatment means.

Table 2. Effects of micronization on dietary ber contents of sweet potato, taro, and yam peels Variety Sweet potato peel milling time (h) 0 5 10 0 5 10 0 5 10 TDF(g kg1 ) 211.1ab 199.7b 217.2a 276.1a 288.3a 278.2a 317.7a 306.3b 315.3ab IDF(g kg1 ) 134.5a 125.3b 120.2b 186.8a 181.8a 173.5b 249.3a 231.7b 201.7c SDF(g kg1 ) 76.6b 74.4b 97.0a 89.3b 106.6a 104.7a 68.4b 74.6b 108.1a SDF/IDF 0.57b 0.59b 0.81a 0.48b 0.59a 0.60a 0.27c 0.32b 0.54a

Taro peel

Yam peel

Means with the same letter within the same column and crop are not signicantly different (P < 0.05). TDF, total dietary ber; IDF, insoluble dietary ber; SDF, soluble dietary ber.

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Effects of micronization on peels of root and tuber crops

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Table 3. Effects of micronization on particle size of sweet potato, taro and yam peels Variety Sweet potato peel Milling time (h) 0 5 10 0 5 10 0 5 10 D[4, 3]a 40.42a 17.40b 13.91c 44.53a 33.33b 31.20c 43.67a 22.16b 20.28c D[3, 2]b 13.63a 10.34b 9.14c 14.84a 12.43b 11.07c 14.08a 11.44b 10.78c D(V, 0.1)c 5.80a 5.53b 4.97c 5.65a 4.53b 3.97c 6.03a 5.66b 5.43b D(V, 0.5)d 24.72a 12.78b 11.24c 42.07a 30.40b 27.79c 25.57a 15.54b 14.18c D(V, 0.9)e 97.60a 36.47b 24.66c 89.23a 67.45b 65.12c 107.43a 50.52b 45.65c

Taro peel

Yam peel

Means with the same letter within the same column and crop are not signicantly different (P < 0.05). a D[4, 3], granule diameter (m) derived from the volume distribution. b D[3, 2]: ratio of total volume of particles to the total surface area. c D(V, 0.1): granule diameter (m) for which 10% of the volume consists of smaller granules. d D(V, 0.5): granule diameter (m) for which 50% of the volume consists of smaller granules. e D(V, 0.9); granule diameter (m) for which 90% of the volume consists of smaller granules.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Proximate compositions In this study, the proportion of fresh peels in yam, taro, and sweet potato corms were weighed and calculated to be 82, 105, and 68 g kg1 . The highest protein and starch content in the peels were observed in yam peel and sweet potato peel, respectively. Yam peel also gained the highest TDF among the three crops (Table 3). Chemical analyses showed that the peels of roots and tubers were rich in TDF (211.1317.7 g kg1 , dry basis) together with protein (53.3191.1 g kg1 ) and ash (62.069.3 g kg1 ) and small amounts of lipid (6.429.6 g kg1 ) (Table 1). TDF, IDF, SDF Table 2 shows that the composition of dietary ber varied with ball milling. It is noteworthy that the maximum TDF content was observed in yam peel, with values of 306.3317.7 g kg1 during 10 h of ball milling. Compared to the yam peel, sweet potato and taro peels gave lower TDF content (199.7217.2 g kg1 and 276.1288.3 g kg1 , respectively) in this experiment. The contents of IDF in the peels decreased with milling, from 134.5 to 120.2 g kg1 in sweet potato peels, from 186.8 to 173.5 g kg1 in taro peels, and from 249.3 to 201.7 g kg1 in yam peels. Concurrently, the SDF contents of sweet potato, taro, and yam peels increased gradually with increases in ball milling time (Table 2). The results demonstrate that micronization treatment on the tuber peels caused a redistribution of ber components from the insoluble to the soluble fraction, such as protein and pectic substance.21,22 Table 3 shows that the initial ratio of SDF/IDF before micronization was 0.57 in the sweet potato peels. The ratio of SDF/IDF signicantly increased with the increase in milling time to 0.81 after 10 h of ball-milling treatment in sweet potato peels. Similar increases of SDF/IDF ratio were also observed in both taro and yam peels during ball milling (Table 3). Scanning electron microscopy and particle size Figure 1 shows that sweet potato peels subjected to different milling times were morphologically similar. The shape of the micronized granules appeared to be irregular and poly-angular when viewed by SEM. The particle size of sweet potato peels signicantly decreased as milling time increased (010 h). The

average particle size of peels was smallest at the nal milling time. The same morphological appearance was seen in the peels of taro and yam during ball milling (data not shown). Particle size distributions of the tuber peels were determined using a laser diffraction analyzer. The results showed two peaks before micronization (Fig. 2), with characteristic dimensions in the range of 1020 and 50150 m. Ball milling signicantly (P < 0.05) reduced the average particle size of peels and redistributed the particle sizes to a single peak ranging from 5 to 30 m, which agreed with the results from SEM. The results of the particle size analyzer indicated that the granule diameter for 10% of the volume consisting of smaller granules was 5.8 m and the remaining 90% of volume fraction was 97.6 m in diameter before ball milling (Table 3). After 10 h of ball-milling treatment, the granule diameter gradually decreased to 4.97 m for the 10% volume fraction and 24.66 m for the 90% fraction, which revealed that the particle size of the peels was signicantly reduced and the range of granule size distribution narrowed (Fig. 2). The average particle size of sweet potato peels, expressed by an even particle distribution D (4.3), was 40.42 m at the beginning and decreased signicantly to 13.91 m after 10 h of ball-milling treatment (Table 3). In the taro and yam peels, the same tendency was seen; the particle size of both peels decreased signicantly over the ball-milling time of 010 h. The results indicate that taro peel is the most difcult to micronize in the ball mill. After 10 h of ball milling, taro peel retained the largest average granule diameter, at 31.20 m, followed by yam peels at 20.28 m. Functional properties Table 4 shows the changes in bulk density of the three peels during ball-milling treatments. It was found that the bulk density of sweet potato peel signicantly decreased, from 0.88 to 0.71, with an increase of milling time from 0 to 10 h. The same tendency of decrease in bulk density was observed in taro and yam peels after ball milling (P < 0.05). The bulk densities of the three peels were compared and the lower bulk densities (0.660.71 g mL1 ) were correlated with larger particle sizes (13.9131.20 m) observed after 10 h of ball milling, which might be due to the higher porosity of micronized peels. An inverse relationship (r = 0.95) was observed between bulk density and particle size of micronized

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12 10 8 6 4 2 0 0.1 1
0 hr 2 hr 4 hr 6 hr 8 hr 10 hr

C-C Huang, Y-F Chen, C-CR Wang

Volume (%)

10 Particle diameter (m)

100

1000

Figure 2. Effect of micronization treatment (010 h) on particle size distribution of sweet potato peels.

results of increased surface area and enhanced solubilization of protein and pectic substances. Ball-milling treatment signicantly increased water-holding capacity (WHC) of sweet potato peels, from 2.74 to 3.06 g g1 . A high correlation (r = 0.96) between SDF/IDF ratio and WHC was seen in the sweet potato peels. However, there was no signicant change in WHC after ball-milling treatment in taro and yam peels. Some researchers have reported that root and tuber peels contain high percentages of cellulose, which may have resulted in the lower WHC due to its higher density and fewer water-binding components.23,24 Micronization might increase the number and nature of water-binding sites, resulting in the increase in WHC.19,25 The result also indicates that micronized sweet potato peels with higher bulk density tended to have lower solubility and WHC (r = 0.88 and 0.79), which could be explained by differences in the porosity and surface area during ball milling. Table 4 also shows that the 10 h ball-milling treatment did not signicantly change the oil-holding capacities of the three peels. In general, the physicochemical properties, such as bulk densities, water-holding capacities, and oil-holding capacities of the different bers, were correlated with their particular chemical and physical structures as well as the preparation methods.22

CONCLUSIONS
Figure 1. Scanning electronic micrographs of sweet potato peels during micronization treatment. S0, S5, S10 represent sweet potato peels micronized for 0, 5, and 10 h, respectively.

peels. The solubility of micronized peels increased from 68.1117.3 to 156.5272.5 g kg1 as particle size decreased from 40.4244.53 to 13.9131.20 m. The solubility of micronized peels increased with increase in milling time due to the increases in the soluble fraction, as revealed by a positive correlation (r = 0.930.99) between solubility and the SDF/IDF ratio. We inferred that the small particle size created by the ball-milling treatment might increase tremendously the porosity and capillary attraction of the ber and consequently cause a redistribution of ber components from the insoluble to the soluble fraction. Chau et al.15 indicated that the increased solubility of rice ber was probably due to the

Micronization by ball milling considerably reduces the particle size of root and tuber peels and redistributes the peel components from the insoluble to the soluble fraction. Functional properties of the peels were strongly inuenced by the micronization treatments. Ball-milled insoluble peel ber showed some improvement of functional properties that may be of potential use in the food industry. Interest in health foods and a focus on the health benets of dietary ber in the human diet invite the speculation that the peels could provide a new source of inexpensive dietary ber in selected food products.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study was made possible through the nancial support provided by the National Science Council of Taiwan, ROC (NSC-952313-B-126-005).

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Table 4. Effects of micronization on physical properties of sweet potato, taro and yam peelsa Milling time (h) 0 5 10 0 5 10 0 5 10 Bulk density (g mL1 ) 0.88a 0.79b 0.71c 0.89a 0.69b 0.66b 0.70a 0.68a 0.69a Solubility (g kg1 sample) 117.3b 125.3b 272.5a 68.1b 78.4b 162.0a 106.9b 99.7b 156.5a WHC (g water g1 sample) 2.74b 2.35c 3.06a 3.66a 3.30a 3.55a 3.10a 3.42a 3.07a OHC (g oil g1 sample) 5.48a 5.43a 5.44a 5.75a 5.35a 5.74a 5.68a 5.50ab 5.32b

Variety Sweet potato peel

Taro peel

Yam peel

Means with the same letter within the same column and crop are not signicantly different (P < 0.05). a WHC, water-holding capacity; OHC, oil-holding capacity.

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