Water desorption isotherms of two varieties of sweet potato

Water desorption isotherms were determined for New Zealand sweet potato at 25, 40 and 55°C, and for Philippines sweet potato at 28°C. The isotherms were sigmoid in shape and of type II according to the BET classification. The data were fitted to eight two-parameter equations reported in the literature. The effect of water activity, a_w, and temperature, T °C, on the equilibrium moisture content, M _e g water/100g dry solids, was best described for New Zealand sweet potato by: Me = 20.51 T-^0.204 (a_w/(1-a_w)0.39 for a_w= 0.06–0.81