Solomon Workneh Fanta

Bahir Dar University · Faculty of Chemical and Food Engineering

Starch-based wood adhesives are becoming more and more popular as a result of the growing need for eco-friendly adhesives. However, lower performance currently limits the use of native starch-based wood adhesives in commercial scale. This study aimed to develop and evaluate a sustainable starch based wood adhesive by incorporating clay particles as...

In this work, the influence of two-stage solar tunnel drying on the preservation of quality attributes of both chili pepper varieties, Mareko Fana (MF) and Bako Local (BL), was studied. Both varieties were dried in different drying modalities, i.e. solar tunnel and open sun drying. The quality attributes were evaluated during the drying process usi...

Previous studies have revealed the microbial quality of Awaze paste. However, limited reports describe the effect of individual spices on Awaze paste quality. A mixture design approach was used to determine the appropriate proportions, with 15 experimental points for independent variables including RP (60–90 %), GA (10–30 %), RO (5–20 %), and GI (5...

Improper mechanical threshing can lead to fissuring and breakage of rice grains, resulting in lower milling quality and increased quantity losses, especially in locally produced rice in Africa due to poor post-harvest practices. This study examined the effects of moisture content (MC), drum peripheral speed (DS) and spike spacing (SS) on grain dama...

The traditional cooking of dry maize grain for preparing either boiled maize (nifro) or roasted maize (qollo) in Ethiopia is preceded by soaking dry maize in water for a certain time. This study aimed to assess the practice of soaking dry maize grain and determine the effect of soaking water volume (0, 200 or 300 ml per 100 g), soaking time (12 or...

A fluctuation in the abiotic and biotic factors of stored maize affects its physical and chemical characteristics. The present study evaluated the effects of storing maize grain in a woven polypropylene sack at 1800 m above sea level (a.s.l.) with different initial moisture content (12% and 15% wet basis) and storage duration on the physical and ch...

The aim of this study was to produce spicy red pepper paste ( Awaze ) by addition of various sources of antioxidant, mineral, and fiber and optimize better processing methods of the paste. For this purpose, D‐optimal mixture design was used, Awaze considering color value (a*), antioxidant content, mineral content, fiber content, chewiness, and visc...

Reducing post-harvest loss conserves resources such as natural, human, and financial inputs that help reduce poverty, raise household incomes, and improve rural livelihoods. The plant-based protein, higher unsaturated fat content, and higher fiber value of groundnuts make them preferable for nutrition enhancement. Groundnut is also well known for i...

Berbere, the hot pepper spice, is a central ingredient in Ethiopian cuisine. This study aimed to deepen understanding of the agricultural and postharvest handling practices and incidence of aflatoxins and ochratoxins at different stages of the domestic berbere (Capsicum frutescens) value chain in the Amhara region of Northern Ethiopia. The main act...

Global solar radiation data is required for a variety of applications, including the design of solar energy conversion systems. However, these data are not recorded and readily available in many developing countries. On the other hand, sunshine durations are registered in many metrological stations of developing countries. Scientists have developed...

Spicy red pepper paste, locally known as Awaze , is a traditional popular spicy paste consumed in Ethiopia. The objective of this research was to determine the optimum proportion of red pepper, garlic, red onion and ginger in the preparation of Awaz e paste. Mixture design was used to establish the appropriate proportion of red pepper, garlic, red...

Spices are known to have important benefits in our daily diet, and it is common to see industrial and traditional spicy foods in our households and markets. In the present work, a systematic profiling of the nutritional, physicochemical, and textural properties of red pepper, garlic, red onion, and ginger was conducted. The detailed data of forty e...

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of storage materials (Storage bags) and durations on seed quality and proximate composition of emmer wheat in farmer storage practices. The emmer wheat samples were stored for nine consecutive months in PICS (Purdue Improved Crop Storage) bag (PB), Grainpro® Bag (GPB), Polypropylene Bag (PPB), emmer w...

An assessment of post-harvest losses and handling practices of emmer wheat was carried out in 2019 Bale zone, southeastern Ethiopia. A semi-structured survey questionnaire was used to collect primary data from farmers, and traders, whereas FAO’s 4s (screening of relevant data, surveying, sampling, and synthesis) method was used to determine losses...

This study assessed quantitative and qualitative postharvest loss of tomato through the supply chain in Northwest Ethiopia using FAO load tracking method. The treatments comprised of four critical steps through the supply chain and three harvesting locations. Two-way ANOVA was used to estimate the combined contributions of harvesting location and s...

As monitoring of spray drift during application can be expensive, time-consuming, and labor-intensive, drift predicting models may provide a practical complement. Several mechanistic models have been developed as drift prediction tool for various types of application equipment. Nevertheless, mechanistic models are quite often intricate and complex...

In developing countries like Ethiopia, where the time of harvesting coincides with the dry season, farmers cure onion bulbs naturally on the field. Field curing generally takes longer than artificial curing and results in more losses and reduced quality of the bulbs due to increased risks for infestations and uncontrolled suboptimal drying conditio...

White lupine is a traditional crop in Ethiopia. It is grown in the north western part of the country. Lupine has been used as human nutrition especially the protein content is very high (40%) which can solve the malnutrition problem in Ethiopia. The utilization of lupine is limited by small scale of their production, market and the anti nutritional...

In Ethiopia, coffee is extremely important from both a cultural and economic standpoint. It is one of Ethiopia's most important export commodities, accounting for roughly 40% of total exports. Coffee supports the livelihoods of 1.3 million Ethiopian agricultural households, with small-scale farmers producing approximately 95% of Ethiopian coffee. E...

The aim of this study was to determine postharvest loss of tomatoes along the postharvest supply chain in Northwest Ethiopia. The study was conducted on tomato fruits produced in three productive kebeles (Chimba, Gumara, and Kudmi) of Northwest Ethiopia following the FAO load tracking and sampling assessment method. Postharvest losses of tomatoes r...

Background Microorganisms inhabiting the gut play a significant role in supporting fundamental physiological processes of the host, which contributes to their survival in varied environments. Several studies have shown that altitude affects the composition and diversity of intestinal microbial communities in terrestrial animals. However, little is...

The world population is projected to be 9.1 billion by the year 2050, and about 70% extra food will be required. One of the main challenges regarding food security is postharvest loss due to insect pests. The overall postharvest grain losses for sub-Saharan Africa could be as high as US$4 billion/year. This is around 15% of the total production of...

This study evaluated farmers’ knowledge, perceptions and insect pest management practices of maize in the northwestern part of Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia. Data was collected by a validated questionnaire from 108 farmers. The association between the variables was assessed using Chi-square test and Ordinal Logit regression model was use...

is study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the growing seasons, grain types, and varieties on physical, proximate, functional, mineral, vitamins, amino acids, and microstructural properties of Ethiopian emmer wheat. One local landrace and three improved emmer wheat varieties (Hydroo, Sinana 01, and Lameso) grown during Meher and Belg seasons...

Improper curing of onion bulbs leads to high losses during storage. The aim of curing is to seal the onion by drying its outer scales and the neck, limiting weight loss. A coupled heat and mass transfer model was established for the prediction of the moisture and temperature distribution inside onion bulbs. A finite element method was used for disc...

The effect of fully ventilated storage structure, netted bags, mud-coated structure (local practice in the region), and heap storage on quality and shelf-life of onion cv. Bombay red was studied at Bahir Dar Institute of Technology in Ethiopia. The experiment was conducted in a single factor with four levels (four storage structures) with three rep...

This study assessed quantitative and qualitative postharvest loss of tomato through the supply chain in Northwest Ethiopia using FAO load tracking method. The treatments comprised of four critical steps through the supply chain and three harvesting locations. Two-way ANOVA was used to estimate the combined contributions of harvesting location and s...

An indirect two-stage solar tunnel dryer has been developed to study the drying characteristics of two chili pepper varieties. The effect of chili layer density on the drying time and moisture loss was investigated. Thirteen thin layer-drying models have been analyzed to fit the experimental data. The results showed that the drying process occurred...

An indirect two-stage solar tunnel dryer has been developed to study the drying characteristics of two chili pepper varieties. The effect of chili layer density on the drying time and moisture loss was investigated. Thirteen thin layer-drying models have been analyzed to fit the experimental data. The results showed that the drying process occurred...

Background Microorganisms inhabiting the gut play a significant role in supporting fundamental physiological processes of the host, which contributes to their survival in varied environments. Several studies have shown that altitude affects the composition and diversity of intestinal microbial communities in terrestrial animals. However, little is...

The drying characteristics of chili pepper at three maturity stages under different drying conditions were studied under a hot air drying cabinet. The drying was performed at a relative humidity of 25%, 35%, and 45% and temperatures of 40 °C, 50 °C, and 60 °C. The response surface methodology was performed to find the optimal drying conditions. A m...

Most of the antimicrobial compounds used for treating textiles are synthetic-based and not considered environmentally friendly. Therefore, solanum incanum fruit and onion peel were selected for the current study based on their potent antimicrobial activity. The active substance was extracted from fruit and peel by using the maceration extraction te...

Improper handling of fruits and vegetables causes a significant postharvest loss. Among the postharvest preservation mechanisms, solar dryers are reported as sustainable and suitable preservation systems for fruit and vegetable products. This paper summarizes the recent advances, opportunities, and challenges in solar drying of fruit and vegetable...

Simple Summary: The gut microbiota (all microbes in the intestine) of fishes is known to play an essential role in diverse aspects of their life. The gut microbiota of fish is affected by various environmental parameters, including temperature changes, salinity and diet. This study characterised the microbial composition in gut samples of Nile Tila...

Tomato is a highly perishable horticultural produce; post-harvest management is very crucial to maintain the quality and to extend shelf life. In view of this, the present research was carried out to determine the effect of gibberellic acid (GA 3) (0.075, 0.1, and 0.125%) and calcium chloride (CaCl 2) (1, 1.5, and 2%) treatments on quality and shel...

In this paper, we developed a mathematical model to simulate the heat and mass transfer during the convective drying of injera. The coupled set of heat and moisture partial differential equations (PDEs) were numerically solved by the finite element method (FEM) using COMSOL Multi-physics, 5.5. To validate the simulated results, drying experiments w...

The objective of this study is to assess the effect of Solanum incanum fruit (SIFE) and red onion peel (ROPE) extracts treatments on cotton fabric properties. The two factor factorial design was used, the first factor is concentration of the methanolic extract with two levels (3 g/l and 5 g/l) and the second is combination of extracts (25:75 SIFE:...

This two-volume set constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Advancement of Science and Technology, ICAST 2020, which took place in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, in October 2020.The 74 revised full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from more than 200 submissions of which 157 were sent out for peer...

This two-volume set constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Advancement of Science and Technology, ICAST 2020, which took place in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, in October 2020.The 74 revised full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from more than 200 submissions of which 157 were sent out for peer...

Optimum flavor and aroma of the coffee are developed during the roasting process. However, certain problems exist in the coffee roasting process such as partial charring, over roasting, and poor temperature distribution across the coffee bean (due to the low thermal conductivity of bean), if conditions are not optimized. Hence, uniform temperature...

Injera is fermented Ethiopian ethnic traditional staple food prepared usually form teff flour [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter]. Almost all the Ethiopians consume this food at least once in a day. Injera preparation composed of many steps, starting from grain preparation to baking; these all steps are still performing with indigenous knowledge with...

The moisture sorption isotherm at three maturity levels of the Mareko Fana chili pepper variety (red, brown and green) has been studied in this paper. The sorption isotherm was determined based on the standard static gravimetric method using a glycerol-water mixture in a relative humidity range of 10-92% at three temperature levels and nonlinear re...

The Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) gut harbors a diverse microbial community; however, their variation across gut regions, lumen and mucosa is not fully elucidated. In this study, gut microbiota of all samples across gut regions and sample types (luminal content and mucosa) were analyzed and compared from two Ethiopian lakes. Microbiota were...

Red chilies are important sources of nutrients for human diet. It is known that improper handling of the produces causes a significant loss. Drying is a primary and suitable preservation system of chili products before storage to minimize mold/mycotoxin development. This study investigates the potential of solar cabinet chili dryer through rigorous...

Wheat and maize farmers in Ethiopia seldom adopted hermetic storage technologies which can substantially reduce post-harvest losses. Two on-farm storage experiments and a perception survey were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the PICS bag and Super GrainPro bag and to assess farmers’ perceptions towards the utility of the technologies in...

There has been an increasing trend in recent times for taking more of green leafy vegetables (GLV) portion in the human diet. Among various GLVs available for human consumption, some are confined to a specific region and few are available in many parts of the world. Kale (Brassica oleracea L. var. acephala) is among the latter group which belongs t...

Integrating varietal resistance with temperature manipulation during storage may provide a better option for protection of stored grains and may decrease reliance on the use of synthetic chemicals. The current study was conducted to determine the susceptibility of different varieties of wheat seed to the infestation by the granary weevil, Sitophilu...

Cereals are producing in a large volume as compare with other crops in Ethiopia because they are the principal staple crops. Small amounts of ancient wheat species may still be grown in some countries for traditional foods, but there has been renewed interest in them in recent years as they have been proposed to be rich sources of bioactive compone...

A wide variety of the roots and tubers plays a major role in human diet, animal feed, and industrial raw materials. Sweet potatoes (SPs) play an immense role in human diet and considered as second staple food in developed and underdeveloped countries. Moreover, SP production and management need low inputs compared to the other staple crops. The col...

Purpose This paper is a systemic review on enset plant’s role in Ethiopian people’s life as the source of food. This paper aims to summarize the traditional processing and preparation methods of enset-based foods and their nutritional composition. Design/methodology/approach Available scientific articles were collected and reviewed for enset plant...

This research paper deals about kinetic modeling and gas composition analysis of sawdust pyrolysis. The thermal degradation of sawdust at lower (10 ℃/min), medium (20 ℃/min) and higher (50 ℃/min) heating rates were conducted using Beijing Henven Thermo Gravimetric (TG) analyzer. The sawdust pyrolysis gave 98% gas and 2% char, 80% gas and 20% char,...

Silica based inert dusts are eco-friendly alternatives to control stored grain insect pests due to environmental and health concerns associated with use of synthetic insecticides. A study was conducted to determine the efficacy of filter cake (a silica-based inert dust) on the granary weevil, Sitophilus granarius (L.) and lesser grain borer, Rhyzop...

This paper presents the design, construction and performance evaluation of mixed (SCMD) and indirect (SCID) -mode solar cabinet dryers for drying of maize grain with varieties of BH-540 and BH-660. The performances of the solar dryers were tested with three levels of sample loading, 21.74 kg/m² (thick layer), 16.3 kg/m² (medium layer), and 10.87 kg...

Consumer’s concern on health through diet has been increased in recent time and majority of the population are trying to be healthy by consuming proper diet. Cereals, pseudo cereals, and pulses are getting appreciation from the consumers and the nutritionists because of their treasure of nutrition and taste. In recent times, the term “super grain”...

ii FDRE, POLICY STUDY AND RESEARCH CENTER About PSRC FDRE, Policy Study and Research Center founded in March 2014 as a government policy and strategy research center. It is established by recognizing the need for policy related researches and knowledge based decision making process in the fast growing and transforming economy of Ethiopia. The PSRC...

A two-dimensional multiscale water transport and mechanical model was developed to predict the water loss and deformation of apple tissue (Malus × domestica Borkh. cv. 'Jonagold') during dehydration. At the macroscopic level, a continuum approach was used to construct a coupled water transport and mechanical model. Water transport in the tissue was...

The importance of cell division models in cellular pattern studies has been acknowledged since the 19th century. Most of the available models developed to date are limited to symmetric cell division with isotropic growth. Often, the actual growth of the cell wall is either not considered or is updated intermittently on a separate time scale to the...

Water loss of fruit typically results in fruit tissue deformation and consequent quality loss. To better understand the mechanism of water loss, a model of water transport between cells and intercellular spaces coupled with cell deformation was developed. Pear (Pyrus communis L. cv. Conference) was chosen as a model system as this fruit suffers fro...

A 3D virtual fruit tissue generator is presented that can distinctly define the microstructural components of a fruit tissue and that can be used to model important physical processes such as gas transport during controlled atmosphere storage. The model is based on the biomechanics of plant cells in tissues. The main merit of this algorithm is that...