Proximate Analysis Moisture The moisture content was measured by oven drying at 105C overnight as outlined by AOAC (1995).

TUis was evaluated by using drying oven. One gm of carrot powder for both the treatment was weighed and subjected to moisture test. Ash Final ash was content measured using muffle furnace, which is kept at 550 C for 24 hours. The ash content of the carrot powder was evaluated after drying the sample. AOAC (1995) procedure was followed for ash evaluation. Fat Initial content of fat was measured by Soxhlet ether extraction process method. Six replications were made to determine the fat content of carrot powder. This analysis was carried out by AOAC (1995) outlined procedures. Protein Protein was determined by using Kjeltec Auto 1030 Analyzer (Tecator). Kjeldhal method was adopted to analyse the protein content in the carrot powder and procedures were followed as outlined in Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC International (1995). Physiochemical Analysis Water Activity Water activity was measured using Sprint Novasina TH- 500 meter. Measurements were made in triplicates. Approximately 5 - 8 gms was measured to determine water activity for the sample.

pH pH of the product was measured by pH meter. One gm of sample were diluted in 49 gm of distilled water and stirred for a minute with the stirrer. Color Color of the product was evaluated by Konica Minolta (Model CR-400/4I0) colorimeter, which gives L(lightness), a, and b values. The sample was placed in Ziploc with freeze guard food storage bag and 3 replications were taken from both the treatments. Chroma and Hue angle was calculated by the following formula Chroma = a + b Hue Angle = tan( b/a) Nutritional Analysis Carotene Analysis Initial and final day alpha and beta-carotene level was analysed. The HPLC method was followed to find the carotene level. Proximate analysis Methodology Moisture determination Oven drying method was followed. The sample is heated under specified conditions, and loss of weight is used to calculate the moisture content of the sample. The time took required dry was 24 hours. Weight of wet sample - weight of wet sample Per cent of moisture(wt/w1;) = _________________________________________ Weight of wet sample X 100.

Ash analysis The general procedure includes the following steps: a. Weigh a 5-10 g sample into a tared crucible. Predry if the sample is very moist. b. Place crucibles in cool muffle furnace. Use tongs, gloves, and protective eye ware if the muffle furnace is warm. c. Ignite 12-18 hr (or overnight) at about 550 C. d. Tum off muffle furnace and wait to open it until the temperature has dropped to at least 250 C, preferably lower. Open door carefully to avoid losing ash that may be fluffy. e. Using safety tongs, quickly transfer crucibles to a desiccator with a porcelain plate desiccant. Cover crucibles, close desiccator, and allow crucibles to cool prior to weighing. The ash content is calculated as follows: Weight after ashing - tare weight of crucible Per cent of ash (dry basis) = _____________________________________________ X 100 . Dry sample weight - tared crucible weight

Fat Assessment Fat was analysed for the day one of the shelf life period, by Soxhlet method the procedure followed is listed below: 1. Weigh, to the nearest mg, about 2 g of predried sample in to predried thimble, with porosity permitting a rapid flow of ethyl ether. Sample covered with thimble with glass wool. 2. Weigh perdried boiling flask. 3. Put anhydrous ether in boiling flask. 4. Assemble boiling flask, Soxhlet flask, and condenser.

5. Extract in a Soxhlet extractor at a rate of 5 or 6 drops per second condensation for about 4 hr, or for 16 hr at rate of 2 or 3 drops per second by heating solvent in boiling flask. 6. Dry boiling flask with extracted fat in an air oven at 100 C for 30 min, cool in desiccator, and weigh. Calculation: % Fat on dry weight basis = (g of fat in sample/ g of dried sample) x 100 Protein Analysis Kjeldhal procedure was used to analyse the crude protein in the carrot powder sample. In the Kjeldahl procedure, proteins and other organic food components in a sample are digested with sulphuric acid in the presence of catalysts. The total organic nitrogen is converted to ammonium sulphate. The digest is neutralized with alkali and distilled into as boric acid solution. The borate anions formed are titrated with standardized acid, which is converted to nitrogen in the sample. The result of the analysis represents the crude protein content of food since nitrogen also comes from non-protein components. Calculations worked as follows: Moles of HCl = moles NH3 = moles of N in the sample. An average of two-reagent blank had run to subtract reagent nitrogen from the sample nitrogen. Corrected acid volume 14 g N

Per cent Nitrogen = N HCL _________________________ __________ g of sample mole

Where N HCl = Normality of HCl, in moles/1000 ml. Corrected acid volume = (ml std. acid for sample) - (ml std. acid for blank). 14 = atomic weight of nitrogen. A factor is used to convert per cent N to per cent crude protein. Conversion factor used is 6.25, so per cent protein is calculated % N6.25 Carbohydrate by Difference Total carbohydrate was calculated by subtracting the moisture, ash, protein and fat content from 100. i.e., 100 - (Moisture +ash + protein + fat). Carbohydrates are important in foods as a major source of energy to human physiological processes.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Results of Proximate Analysis Moisture The moisture content came out as , this showed that the water content in carrots dehydrated

at a temp of 105c shows very less moisture content ,that means the chances of spoilage is very less. Ash Content Total ash determines the mineral content in foods. The given ash content of fresh fruits and vegetables are 0.3 to 1.6 g, in the USDA Nutrient database for standard reference. The mean the ash content of the dehydrated carrots are listed in Table 1. Fat Content The mean values for fat content in the dehydrated carrots have been listed in Table 1. The fat content of raw carrots are listed as 0.092, 0.027, and 0.262 for total saturated, total unsaturated, total polyunsaturated fatty acids respectively.(USDA Nutrient database, 2001). The mean value of fat content in cubed dried carrots was 1.15 g. Protein Content The mean values of crude protein for the cube dried carrots have been listed in Table 1. USDA lists the crude protein value for raw carrot value as 0.84 in 100 gm of portion (USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 15 , 2002). The mean value of protein for cubed dried carrots was (6.27 g). Protein quality determination helps to predict the nutritional quality of food proteins.

Table I. Mean physiochemical and composition of cube dried carrots stored for 1, 15 and 30 days at 25C Analysis Treatment Day1 Day15 Day30

___________________________________________________________________________ Moisture ( % ) CD 7.61 7.46 8.33

Ash ( % )

CD

6.68

6.20

6.28

Fat ( % )

CD

1.51

1.50

1.50

Protein ( % )

CD

6.27

6.24

6.20

Carbohydrate by Difference ( % )

CD

77.93

78.60

77.69

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