Bio
CLEMENT ADESOJI is affiliated with the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He holds qualifications including B. Tech, M. Sc, and is currently pursuing a Ph. D. His research areas include Agricultural soil science and Food Science. He has acted as an author and reviewer, with scholarly contributions on topics such as trace elements distribution in soil and physical properties of ginger.
Educational Journey
B. Tech
M. Sc
Ph. D (in view)
Experience
Editors Role
Reviewer
GJSFR
0 -Research
Physical Properties of Ginger (Zingiber officinale)
Ginger is a plant recently gaining attention in the food and pharmaceutical industries because of its spice and medicinal importance. Major post-harvest processing of ginger is being carried out locally in West Africa and Nigeria due to the unavailability of information on the engineering properties including physical, mechanical, thermal and optical properties which are the main considerations in the design of machines for post-harvest handling of crops. The research looked at some physical properties of ginger (Zingiber officinale) rhizomes such as major, minor and intermediate diameters, geometric mean, sphere city, bulk volume, bulk density, surface area, angle of repose and the coefficient of friction which are essential in the design and construction of the processing and handling equipment of Zingiber officinale. The properties were determined using ASAE standards. The average value obtained for major diameter, minor diameter, intermediate diameter, geometric mean, sphere city, bulk volume, surface area, bulk density and angle of repose within the moisture content range of 10.9 % and 51.6 % dry basis are 112 mm, 38.3 mm, 72.3 mm, 67.6 mm, 0.61, 832.5 cm3, 147 cm2, 0.92 g/cm3, 480 respectively. The coefficient of friction was obtained on three different structural materials, the values obtained are: 0.40 on glass, 0.49 on stainless steel and 0.55 on wood. All the physical properties measured showed some deviations from the average values which is typical of biomaterials. The physical properties increase with an increase in the moisture content except the sphere city and bulk density which decrease as the moisture content increases.
Trace Elements Distribution in Soil Columns as affected by Cassava Effluents Application
Cassava effluent in form of wastewater obtained during the processing of “garriâ€, is indiscriminately released into the environment, the effect of which is not fully known on soils and groundwater. This study investigated the distribution of two trace elements (Cu and Mn) found in the effluent through soil columns. The experiment was conducted using three different soil types namely; Iwo, Apomu and Egbeda and four varying proportions of cassava effluent (0ml – Control, 6ml, 12ml and 18ml). The four varying proportions of the effluents translates to 2.74, 5.48, 8.22, 10.96 mg/l of Cu and 1.83, 3.66, 5.49, 7.32 mg/l of Mn. The soil samples were compacted to soil bulk density of 1.50g/cm3 inside 50 cm long and 15cm diameter columns. The leachates were collected every 24 hours after the start of the experiment and analyzed for Cu and Mn using the Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The result shows that the total leachate concentration (in mg/l) of Cu in 7days varied from 5.54 to 10.11 for Iwo, 5.13 to 14.81 for Apomu and 9.2 to 15.31 for Egbeda as cassava effluent volume increased from 0ml to 18ml; for Mn, it varies from 0.81 to 27.93, 1.7 to 34.26 and 12.03 to 36.19 for Iwo, Apomu and Egbeda respectively. The effect of increasing cassava effluent volume on leachate concentration for both Cu and Mn was in the order: Apomu > Egbeda > Iwo. The difference in total volume (in ml) leached after 40 minutes of simulated rainfall for 0ml and 12ml effluent additions were 13.3, 10.3 and 2.2 for Iwo, Apomu and Egbeda respectively.
