RESEARCH ARTICLE


Effects of Drying Methods on the Chemical Composition of the Sea Cucumber Holothuria forskali



Khaoula Telahigue*, 1, Tarek Hajji2, Rabeh Imen1, Ouertani Sahbi3, M’hamed El Cafsi1
1 University of Tunis El Manar, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, Research Unit of Physiology and Aquatic E nvironment, 2092 Tunis, Tunisia
2 University of Manouba, High Institute of Biotechnology of Sidi Thabet, 2020 Ariana, Tunisia
3 University of Tunis El Manar, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, Laboratory for Energy and Heat and Mass Transfer, 2092 Tunis, Tunisia

Article Information


Identifiers and Pagination:

Year: 2014
Volume: 8
First Page: 1
Last Page: 8
Publisher Id: TOFSJ-8-1
DOI: 10.2174/1874256401408010001

Article History:

Received Date: 20/9/2013
Revision Received Date: 20/10/2013
Acceptance Date: 2/11/2013
Electronic publication date: 30/5/2014
Collection year: 2014

© 2014 Telahigue et al.;

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the University of Tunis El Manar, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, Research Unit of Physiology and Aquatic Environment, 2092 Tunis, Tunisia; Tel: +21623312023; Fax: +21671537044; E-mail: k_telahigue@yahoo.fr


Abstract

The effects of artisanal and controlled oven drying methods on the biochemical composition of the body wall of the sea cucumber, Holothuria forskali were investigated. Five combinations of temperature (°C) and relative humidity (%) levels were tested (50°C, 20%, 60°C, 25%; 60°C, 15%, 60°C, 20% and 70°C, 20%). The results demonstrate that the treatment (60°C and 20%) yields an improvement of the nutritional quality of the initial product. Improvements were particularly noted in terms of the amount of total proteins and the polyunsaturated fatty acids level in the dry body wall of H. forskali.

Keywords: Chemical composition, fatty acid, Holothuria forskali, oven drying, solar drying, Tunisia.