Determination of the Levels of Iron from Red, Mixed and White Teff (Eragrostis) Flour by using UV/Visible Spectrophotometery

Abstract

A simple and sensitive Spectrophotometric method has been used for the determination of iron concentration in Teff flour and its concentration was compared between the different varieties. The method is based on the reaction of iron with o-phenathroline reagent at acidic condition. The absorbance-concentration plot was linear over the range 0.1-2 mg L^-1 with correlation coefficient of 0.999. This method was applied successfully for determination of iron in teff flour samples. The result shows that the concentration of iron was the highest for the red teff with a value of 2472.7mg/kg, mixed teff have the next highest iron content with 1440.9 mg/kg, while white teff has the least iron concentration with 881mg/kg. This project work revealed that Red/brown teff, the least expensive form and the least preferred type, has the highest iron content.

Keywords: Teff (Eragrostis), o-phenanthroline, UV/Visible Spectrophotometery.