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LWT 39 (2006) 762–769

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Structure–texture relationships of fresh pastes prepared

from different yam (Dioscorea spp.) varieties
Judith Brunnschweiler, David Mang, Zakaria Farah, Felix Escher, Béatrice Conde-Petit
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Received 23 December 2004; received in revised form 19 May 2005; accepted 19 May 2005

Abstract

Yam (Dioscorea spp.) presents an important tropical food crop rich in starch. In West Africa, yam is traditionally prepared by
pounding of cooked yam to obtain a dough-like paste known as pounded yam or ‘foutou’. The present investigation deals with
structure–texture relationships of yam pastes as influenced by yam varieties. In general, the firmness of yam pastes prepared from
D. cayenensis-rotundata was higher than that from D. alata. Difference in firmness was found to be related to the extent of cell
disintegration, which was more pronounced for D. alata as assessed by light microscopy. Pronounced textural changes were
measured during ageing of yam pastes, which is a consequence of the reorganization (retrogradation) of the amylose fraction. Post-
harvest storage of yam tubers resulted in increased firmness and decreased adhesion properties in the pastes, but no significant
influence of the storage treatment with gibberellic acid, which reduces storage losses, was detected. It is concluded that the texture of
yam pastes is largely determined by the integrity of cells and the properties of the continuous starch phase.
r 2005 Swiss Society of Food Science and Technology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Dioscorea spp.; Pounded yam; Paste; ‘foutou’; Structure; Texture

1. Introduction (wet base) (Asiedu, Wanyera, Ng, & Ng, 1997).

Yam (Dioscorea spp.) presents an important starch
rich, tropical staple food particularly in West Africa
where over 90% of the world production is cultivated,
and per capita intake per year is around 65 kg
(FAOSTAT, 2001). While cassava as staple food also
rich in starch received more attention over the years, the
important role of yam for ensuring adequate food
supply and its deep rootage in the culture of local
farming and eating habits has been increasingly
recognized (Berthaud, Bricas, & Marchand, 1998;
Orkwor, 1998). Yam represents a valuable food crop
because of the high starch content which accounts for
16–30 g/100 g (wet base) and a small but nevertheless
valuable protein fraction of approximately 1–3 g/100 g
Corresponding author. Tel.: +41 44 632 37 31;
fax: +41 44 632 11 23.
E-mail address: conde@ilw.agrl.ethz.ch (B. Conde-Petit).
Furthermore, yam storability lasts from a few weeks to
several months and may be extended with improved
postharvest technologies (Girardin et al., 1998; Tschannen
et al., 2003).
Principally, food yam is processed domestically and
by small traders. The products are prepared in the forms
of pastes, boiled, roasted and fried yam. Yam pastes are
primarily prepared by pounding cooked pieces or by
reconstitution of dry yam flour. For the consumer
acceptance, texture is by far the most important quality
factor for yam pastes (Akissoé et al., 2001; Egesi,
Asiedu, Egunjobi, & Bokanga, 2003; Konan, Nindjin,
Agbo, & Otokoré, 2003). The authors identified the
following texture attributes as important for yam pastes:
Smoothness, stickiness, firmness and elasticity. How-
ever, preparation habits and preferred texture pro-
perties of yam pastes depend on region and ethnic
group (Attaie, Zakhia, & Bricas, 1998; Hounhouigan,
Kayode, Bricas, & Nago, 2003). In West Africa, D.

0023-6438/$30.00 r 2005 Swiss Society of Food Science and Technology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.lwt.2005.05.011
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
J. Brunnschweiler et al. / LWT 39 (2006) 762–769
cayenensis-rotundata varieties are commonly preferred
for the preparation of fresh pastes over varieties of D.
alata (Attaie et al., 1998), although certain varieties have
shown to form as good yam pastes as D. cayenensis-
rotundata and are favoured in breeding programs as D.
alata tubers exhibit a longer shelf-life (Egesi et al., 2003;
Tschannen et al., 2003).
In point of view of yam paste texture, preliminary
information on structure–texture relationships can be
drawn from research on mashed potato products. For
these products it was shown that the rheological
properties are largely determined by the integrity and
the volume fraction of plant cells and by the properties
of starch in the continuous extracellular phase
(Lamberti, Geiselmann, Conde-Petit, & Escher, 2004).
The physico-chemical characteristics of yam starch itself
have been studied in isolated form (Amani, Buléon,
Kamenan, & Colonna, 2004; Brunnschweiler et al.,
2005; Farhat, Oguntona, & Neale, 1999).
The aim of the present study was to investigate the
structure–texture relationship of fresh yam pastes as
influenced by yam species (D. alata and D. cayenensis-
rotundata). A standardized laboratory procedure based
on small amounts of plant material was developed for
the preparation of yam pastes, which served as model
system for pounded yam products. The textural proper-
ties of the pastes were measured with compression and
adhesion tests, and the microstructure was assessed by
light microscopy. The properties of starch at the
molecular level were characterized by complexation
with iodine. In addition, yam pastes were studied with
respect to the influence of yam tuber part and yam tuber
storage for five months in the Ivory Coast, with and
without application of gibberellic acid, GA3, to reduce
postharvest losses.
2. Experimental
2.1. Material
For the experiments, yam tubers of four varieties
of the species D. cayenensis-rotundata, i.e. Kponan,
Krenglè, Djaté and 156, and three varieties of D. alata,
i.e. Bètè bètè, A5 and A6, were used. The tubers
originated from the field station of the Swiss Centre for
Scientific Research (CSRS, Abidjan, Ivory Coast).
Varieties 156, A5 and A6 were recently bred genotypes
from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
(IITA, Ibandan, Nigeria). Tubers were investigated
directly upon harvest or were stored for 5 months on
yam barns in the Ivory Coast. The tubers were either
stored without further treatment or gibberellic acid,
GA3, was applied as described by Tschannen et al.
(2003) to reduce post-harvest losses. At our laboratory
in Zurich the yam tubers were kept at 17 1C and 70%
763
relative air humidity, conditions of minimal physiologi-
cal activity.
2.2. Preparation of yam pastes
Yam tubers were cross-sectioned into four pieces and
one of the middle sections was used for preparing the
yam paste. Only in one case, each of the four parts of the
tubers was processed into a paste (the distal and the
proximal ends as well as two middle sections).
For paste preparation one section of the yam tuber
was peeled and cut in pieces (3
3
3 cm3) that were
boiled for 30 min, and 100–150 g of the boiled pieces
were processed in a blade mixer for 9 s (73 s) (Robot
Moulinette S, Moulinex, MX-Mexico) until a dough-
like paste was formed. The core temperature of the
pastes after preparation was 53 1C (75 1C). The pastes
were kept at 50 1C and analysed within 1 h after
preparation.
To follow the changes of yam pastes during ageing a
large amount of yam paste from the same batch was
needed. For this purpose approx. 1 kg of yam tissue was
cooked as described above and the cooked pieces were
set 2 min before being cuttered in a meat cutter (Cutter,
MTZ10/70 spezial, Eduard Müller und Söhne, DE-
Saarbrücken) for 2–3 min until a thick, dough-like paste
resulted. The paste was kept at 25 1C and samples were
removed at regular intervals to assess the changes during
ageing.
For comparative purposes a yam paste was also
prepared by pounding of cooked yam in a traditional
mortar, which corresponds to the preparation of the
pounded yam dish, known as ‘foutou’ in the Ivory
Coast.
2.3. Determination of tuber dry matter content
The tuber dry matter content was determined by
drying 5 g of fine cut yam tissue in a vacuum oven (M.
Chopin & Co., FR-Boulogne) at a pressure of 0.1 bar
and a percolation of dried air (Silicagel/Zeolite) at a flow
rate of 1.5 l/min at 70 1C for 22 h. The analyses were
carried out in duplicate or triplicate.
2.4. Instrumental texture characterization of yam pastes
The texture of yam pastes was measured with a
universal testing machine (Zwick Z010, Zwick GmbH,
DE-Ulm) equipped with a 100 N load cell. For the
firmness measurements yam paste samples were formed
in moulds (diameter 30 mm, height 20 mm) and after
removing the mould, the cylindrical samples were
compressed at a speed of 50 mm/min between two
non-lubricated, stainless steel plates (diameter 78 mm) to
a distance of 10 mm (50%). The force maximum was
evaluated as paste firmness (Bourne, 2002) and means of
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
764 J. Brunnschweiler et al. / LWT 39 (2006) 762–769
three replicates were calculated. The adhesion property
of yam pastes was determined with an adhesion test. The
paste samples were placed into cylindrical moulds
(diameter 40 mm, height 12 mm) on the base plate of
the testing machine. A stainless steel plate (diameter
35 mm) at a cross-head speed of 6 mm/min was lowered
into the sample to a depth of 4 mm before the plate was
removed with the same speed. The negative area under
the force–time curve was evaluated as adhesion (Bourne,
2002). Every paste batch was measured in duplicate.
2.5. Light microscopy of yam pastes
To investigate the microstructure of fresh yam pastes,
samples (5
5
5 mm3) were frozen in isopentan that
was cooled with liquid nitrogen before being cryo-
sectioned (10 mm). The dry sections were stained with
iodine (Lugol solution, diluted 1:1) for 18–25 s and
analysed by light microscopy in the bright field mode
(Axioscope 2 mot, Zeiss, DE-Oberkochen). Pictures
were recorded digitally by a Hamamatsu C5810 video
camera.
2.6. Characterization of the starch fraction by iodine
complexation
The starch fraction of yam pastes was characterized
by iodine complexation of a paste extract with a
modified method that had been developed for instant
potato products (Escher, Rotach, Schweingruber, &
Solms, 1979). In total, 12 g of paste were exactly weighed
in and pressed through a garlic press into 500 ml
deionized water at 66 1C (71 1C). After extraction for
5 min under gentle stirring the samples were set 1 min
and 60 ml of the extract was centrifuged for 10 min at
2100g. Of the supernatant 5 ml was mixed with 1 ml of
0.01 mol/l iodine solution (109,099, Merck KGaA, DE-
Darmstadt) and made up to a volume of 50 ml. The
Table 1
Influence of yam variety on the firmness and the adhesion of yam pastesa,b,c
Species Variety
D. cayenensis-rotundata Kponan
Krenglè
Djaté
156
D. alata Bètè bètè
A5
A6
a
N refers to the number of yam paste batches.
b
Results are indicated as means of three and two replicates per paste batch for firmness and adhesion, respectively, with the standard deviation in
parentheses.
c
Means within a column sharing common letters are not significantly different.
absorbance at the wavelength of 660 nm, A660, and the
absorbance between 440 and 800 nm, lmax , was mea-
sured with a spectrophotometer (Uvikon 940, Kontron
Instruments S.p.A., IT-Milan). Measurements were
carried out in duplicate.
2.7. Statistical analysis
Results were evaluated by multivariate analysis of
variance (ANOVA) with the statistical software SPSS
11.5 for Windows. A significance level of ap0:05 was
chosen and least significant difference (LSD) post hoc
tests were used to rank different samples.
3. Results and discussion
The present study aimed at characterizing the textural
properties of yam pastes prepared from varieties of the
two most frequently cultivated yam species, D. caye-
nensis-rotundata and D. alata. The results of the
instrumental texture measurements are presented in
Table 1. In general, the firmness of pastes from D.
cayenensis-rotundata varieties was higher compared to
pastes prepared from D. alata. The variety 156 showed
an intermediate firmness. The adhesion was highest for
the variety Krenglè, followed by Bètè bètè and A6, and
was lowest for Kponan. The adhesion was thus not
species dependent, but showed large variations between
the varieties.
The influence of tuber section on the textural proper-
ties of pastes was investigated by cross-sectioning the
yam tubers into four parts along its axis. This factor was
investigated because a gradient in dry matter content
and chemical composition along the yam tuber axis has
been reported (Onayemi, Babalola, & Badanga, 1987).
The results of the texture measurements with the
corresponding tuber dry matter content are presented
Firmness Adhesion
N [N] N [Ns]
1 11.97b (1.12) 2 2.28c (0.71)
2 21.97a (6.29) 2 29.11a (8.04)
2 11.40b (2.07) 2 24.51b (11.60)
3 6.38c (2.71) 2 18.66b (10.28)
3 2.62d (0.55) 2 22.22b (12.69)
2 3.01d (1.75) 2 15.09bc (3.74)
2 4.37dc (0.76) 2 38.36a (11.64)
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Table 2
Influence of yam tuber section on dry matter content and textural properties of pastes prepared from variety Kponan (D. cayenensis-rotundata) and
Bètè bètè (D. alata)a,b,c,d

Variety Yam tuber Yam pastec

Tuber part Nt Dry matter content (g/100 g) Tuber part Firmness (N) Adhesion (Ns)

Kponan Proximal 4 36.51a (4.02) Proximal 17.1a (5.8) 1.1b (0.4)

Middle 4 37.69a (9.75) Middle 1 11.8b (1.7) 2.9b (0.6)
Middle 2 12.0b (2.1) 1.9b (0.3)
Distal 4 30.72b (13.68) Distal 16.8a (3.5) 10.6a (2.1)
Bètè bètè Proximal 2 34.80a (3.87) Proximal 2.6b (0.4) 35.7a (9.6)
Middle 4 24.22a (12.40) Middle 1 2.6b (0.4) 22.2a (29.3)
Middle 2 2.6b (1.6) 55.8a (5.9)
Distal 2 22.00b (6.53) Distal 3.6a (0.2) 46.6a (44.4)
a
Nt refers to the number of yam tubers.
b
Results are indicated as means with the range in parentheses.
c
From every tuber section one paste batch was prepared and measured with three and two replicates for firmness and adhesion, respectively.
d
Means within one variety sharing common letters are not significantly different.

in Table 2. The dry matter content tended to be
significantly lower in the distal tuber sections. Regarding
the firmness of yam pastes, no gradient along the tuber
axis was found. The adhesive character of yam pastes
prepared from the distal parts tended to be highest.
However, neither the firmness nor the adhesion proper-
ties of yam pastes were directly related to the dry matter
content of the tuber material.
Light microscopy of cryo-sections of yam pastes in
combination with iodine staining allowed the character-
ization of the extent of tissue and cell disintegration
(Fig. 1). Pastes prepared from yam variety Kponan
showed the most intact cellular structure and the extent
of cell disruption increased in the order Kponano
Krenglèo156oBètè bètèoA5 (Fig. 1a–e). In general,
tissue from the species D. cayenensis-rotundata was less
susceptible towards cell disruption than tissue from D.
alata. Comparison of pastes prepared with the tradi-
tional and the small scale blade mixer method did not
reveal important differences in terms of microstructure
as shown in Fig. 1e and f, for variety Bètè bètè.
However, paste preparation with the blade mixer
method is primarily based on cutting the yam paren-
chyma in a high-speed cutter. In contrast, the traditional
pounding essentially involves uniaxial compressions at a
high rate accompanied by a biaxial deformation of the
material. It should be added that in both cases the
samples were not homogenous and small regions with
almost intact tissue patches without cell separation
could be observed as shown in Fig. 1g, for a blade mixer
prepared paste of the variety Krenglè. Such intact tissue
patches have mainly been detected around vascular
strands (results not shown). Staining with iodine
revealed the typical blue-violet colour of starch, this
phase being composed of largely swollen starch gran-
ules. The disintegration of the cells contributes to the
formation of a continuous starch phase. At high
magnification the staining of starch appears irregular
(Fig. 1h), which is due to the phase separation of the two
starch polymers amylose (dark blue colour) and
amylopectin.
The role of amylose in fresh yam pastes was further
investigated by aqueous extraction of amylose followed
by spectrophotometric characterization of the starch–-
iodine complexes and the results are shown in Table 3.
No significant differences were found between the yam
varieties regarding the absorbance at 660 nm, A660,
which is related to the amount of amylose in the extract.
On the other hand, the maximal wavelength absorbance,
lmax , showed significant higher values for D. cayenensis-
rotundata than for D. alata varieties, the lowest value
was found for the variety A5. The values of lmax suggest
that the free extractable starch in the continuous paste
phase consists mainly of amylose (Richter, Augustat, &
Schierbaum, 1968).
No significant differences between yam pastes from
different varieties were found regarding the extractable
amylose content, although this could have been expected
given the large differences in the extent of cell
disintegration. This fact may be explained by the
extraction procedure, as it was difficult to standardize
the particle size for extraction. On the other hand, this
method allowed following the changes in the amylose
fraction in yam pastes. A 1 kg batch of yam paste was
prepared from variety Kponan in a meat cutter and aged
at 25 1C. The textural properties and the extractable
amylose were characterized over an ageing period of
24 h (Fig. 2). The initial values of the adhesion and of
the extractable amylose, A660, were clearly higher than
for yam pastes that were prepared with the small blade
mixer method (Table 1). This is an indication that the
mechanical treatment in the cutter was more severe
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766 J. Brunnschweiler et al. / LWT 39 (2006) 762–769

Fig. 1. Light micrographs of cryostat-sections (10 mm) of yam pastes prepared with the blade mixer method and stained with iodine of the varieties:
(a) Kponan, (b) Krenglè, (c) 156 of D. cayenensis-rotundata, and of (d) A5 and (e) Bètè bètè of D. alata. In (f) a traditionally prepared yam paste from
Bètè bètè is shown. On micrograph (g) a non-disintegrated tissue structure and on (h) an amplified image with pronounced phase separation of
amylose and amylopectin in a paste of variety Krenglè is shown (am ¼ amylose rich zones, ic ¼ intact cells, dc ¼ disrupted cells).
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
J. Brunnschweiler et al. / LWT 39 (2006) 762–769 767

Table 3 known as retrogradation. The results show that amylose

Influence of yam variety on the free soluble amylose content of yam
aggregation has a strong impact on the texture of the
pastes as determined by the iodine absorbance at 660 nm, A660, and the
maximal absorbance wavelength, lmax ,a,b pastes, and that these changes are very pronounced in
the first hours after preparation. This is one important
Species Variety A660 g1 lmax (nm) reason for the high standard deviation of texture
measurements. Changes in the amylose fraction were
D. cayenensis-rotundata Kponan 0.049a (0.008) 640a (1.0)
Krenglè 0.052a (0.049) 627b (0.0) also found to influence the texture of other starch rich
156 0.048a (0.016) 628b (4.0) products such as pasta, mashed potatoes and bread
(Escher et al., 1979; Hug-Iten, Escher, & Conde-Petit,
D. alata Bb 0.038a (0.008) 621c (0.0)
A5 0.094a (0.002) 582f (0.0) 2001; Moss, Gore, & Murray, 1987). However, in the
case of yam pastes, the textural changes induced by
a
Results are indicated as means of one paste batch measured in amylose aggregation are much more pronounced. This is
duplicate with ranges in parentheses.
b most likely due to the fact that the continuity of the
Means within a column sharing common letters are not signifi-
cantly different. starch phase is strongly developed. For instance in
mashed potatoes the disintegration of cells is far less
pronounced and the leaching of starch into the
24 extracellular space is limited. Furthermore, the ageing
140
behaviour of yam starch is much more dominated by the
20
120 amylose fraction compared to other tuber starches
100 16
(Brunnschweiler et al., 2005).
Adhesion [Ns]

The influence of postharvest storage of yam tubers on

Firmness [N]

80
12 paste characteristics is presented in Table 4. Generally, a
60 storage period of 5 months resulted in increased firmness
40
8 and decreased adhesion of yam pastes compared to
pastes that were prepared shortly after harvest. In-
20 4
creased firmness and decreased adhesion might be
0
0
influenced by moisture loss and small starch degradation
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 in tubers during storage. The treatment of tubers with
Ageing [h] gibberellic acid did not have a significant influence on
0.15
the properties of yam pastes compared to a non-treated
control.
Absorbance at 660 nm [g fresh paste]

0.12
3.1. Structure– texture relationship of yam pastes
-1

0.09
0.06
0.03
0.00
0 2 4 6
Fig. 2. Ageing of yam pastes of variety Kponan (D. cayenensis-
rotundata) for a period of 24 h as determined by firmness (J), adhesion
(~) and starch iodine complexation behaviour (’). Time zero refers
to the time after paste preparation.
which contributed to a release of amylose. During
ageing, A660 showed a clear decrease while also the
adhesion decreased. In contrast, the firmness of the yam
pastes increased as ageing progressed.
The fact that less amylose could be extracted from the
yam pastes with increasing ageing time is due to the
reorganization of amylose, which has the tendency to
form double helices, a transformation which is also
The results of the present investigation improve
the understanding of structure–texture relationships of
yam pastes. The main difference between cooked yam
and a yam paste or dough-like ‘foutou’ lies in the
arrangement and integrity of parenchyma cells and in
the connectivity of the starch phase. The cohesion of
the native tuber material is given by the strong adhesion
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
Ageing [h]
between tuber cells, and cell separation is pro-
moted during cooking (Brett & Waldron, 1996; van
Dijk et al., 2002).
During the preparation of pastes the mechanical
energy input leads to a strong disintegration of the cells
which, in turn, contributes to the release of swollen
starch granules and the formation of a continuous
starch phase that governs the cohesion of the paste.
Yam varieties belonging to the species D. cayenensis-
rotundata are less susceptible towards cell disintegration
compared to D. alata. Large differences between
varieties of these two species were also found in the
mechanical properties of the raw tissue and in the
softening behaviour upon boiling (Brunnschweiler,
2004).
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Table 4
Influence of postharvest storage time and treatment with gibberellic acid, GA3, on tuber dry matter content and on textural properties of the
respective pastes prepared from D. cayenensis-rotundata (Krenglè and 156) and D. alata (Bètè bètè and A6)a,b,c

Variety Yam tuber Yam paste

Storage Dry matter Firmness Adhesion

Period Treatment Nt (g/100 g) Np [N] Np [Ns]

Krenglè 0 3 32.39c (1.12) 2 21.97a (6.29) 1 29.11a (8.04)

5 Control 2 42.29a A (3.91) 2 12.74b B (1.47) 2 4.33c B (2.02)
5 GA3 2 38.23b B (2.47) 2 16.68a A (2.08) 2 12.98b A (8.34)
156 0 4 27.57b (2.38) 3 6.38a (2.71) 1 18.66a (10.28)
5 Control 3 33.86a A (1.44) 3 7.84a A (1.79) 3 28.31a A (0.95)
5 GA3 2 27.96b B (0.76) 2 7.01a A (1.92) 2 21.85a A (7.61)
Bètè bètè 0 4 24.22a (4.57) 3 2.62b (0.55) 1 22.22a (12.69)
5 Control 2 30.36a (0.77) 2 6.32a (0.77) 2 7.82a (7.95)
A6 0 Not determined 2 4.37b (0.76) 1 38.36a (11.64)
5 Control Not determined 2 9.04a (2.71) 2 8.43b (9.85)
a
Nt refers to the number of yam tubers and Np refers to the number of paste batches.
b
Results are indicated as means of three and two replicates per paste batch for firmness and adhesion, respectively, with the range in parentheses.
c
Means within one variety sharing common letters are not significantly different. Lowercase letters refer to the influence of storage time and
uppercase letters to the influence of GA3 treatment.

The firmness of yam pastes is clearly related to the
integrity of yam cells, and the high firmness of Krenglè
and Kponan is explained by moderate cell disintegra-
tion, the intact cells acting as fillers. The adhesion of
yam pastes is a property that is strongly related to
conformational properties of amylose rather than to the
disintegration state of cells. For instance, yam pastes
from Kponan and Krenglè, both presenting little cell
disintegration, showed opposite behaviour in terms of
adhesion, pastes from variety Kponan being much less
adhesive.
Besides the amylose fraction, other factors may also
influence the adhesion of yam pastes. In the case of D.
alata the comparatively high moisture content needs to
be considered. However, Konan et al. (2003) also found
similar firmness in yam pastes prepared from varieties
Krenglè and Kponan, and large differences in stickiness
as tested by sensory profiling with an expert panel. In
addition, the mucilage substances found in yam may
have a strong influence on the texture of pastes, as
known from studies on yam starch/hydrocolloid inter-
actions (Hironaka, Ishibashi, Hashimoto, & Nakagawa,
1992).
4. Conclusion
The transformation of native yam tubers to a thick,
dough-like paste essentially involves the partial release
of the swollen starch granules from the cells, so that
starch forms a continuous network in which the more or
less disintegrated cells are dispersed and act as fillers.
Although differences are found in the moisture content
of the tuber material, the textural properties of yam
pastes are not merely a function of the water content,
but are largely determined by the mechanical properties
of the tubers, by the structural organization of the yam
paste and by the characteristics of the starch fraction.
The firmness of yam pastes is related to the extent of
cell disintegration, and the high firmness values found
for D. cayenensis-rotundata are most likely due to a good
preservation of the cellular structure, whereas pastes
from D. alata show extensive cell disintegration and a
reduced firmness. On the other hand, as ageing
progresses, starch network rigidity increases due to
changes in the amylose fraction at the molecular level,
which also contributes to firmness increase at the
macroscopic level. The adhesive properties of yam
pastes are primarily influenced by the properties of the
starch fraction, in particular by the aggregation state of
amylose, and are not directly linked to the disintegration
state of the cells. For a comprehensive evaluation and
understanding of yam texture further studies are needed
to complement the instrumental texture measurements
by sensory tests.
As expected, the botanical origin of yam has a strong
influence on the properties of the pastes, the differences
between yam species being larger than between yam
varieties. An exception is the newly bred variety 156 of
D. cayenensis-rotundata, which showed intermediate
characteristics between the two species. This is an
interesting observation since in breeding programs it is
aimed at producing a hybrid of the two species, but this
has not been successful so far.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
J. Brunnschweiler et al. / LWT 39 (2006) 762–769
Acknowledgements
This investigation was part of a European-West
African INCO-YAM project in which the authors
participated with support by the Swiss Federal Office
for Education and Science (Bern, Switzerland). The
authors thank the Swiss Centre for Scientific Research
(CSRS, Abidjan, Ivory Coast) and Dr. A.B. Tschannen
for useful collaboration and yam material provision.
The valuable discussion with Dr. Robert Asiedu (IITA,
Ibadan, Nigeria) on tuber origin is gratefully acknow-
ledged.
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