Economic Analysis and Cost Structure of Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus costaricensis) Milkshake

Introduction

Milk-based beverages provide an important opportunity for value addition in the dairy sector. Incorporation of fruit pulp into milkshake can improve product diversity and provide an avenue for utilization of fruits in value-added dairy products. Dragon fruit is an attractive fruit with potential for incorporation into dairy beverages. The development of dragon fruit milkshake therefore provides an opportunity for value addition and commercialization of a novel dairy product. The investigation identifies calculation of the cost structure as one of the major objectives of the study. Red pitaya contains bioactive compounds such as flavonoids and betalains, which possess strong antioxidant properties and may help reduce oxidative stress. Dragon fruit peel is also a valuable source of dietary fibre, making it a potential health-promoting by-product. (Rijal et al., 2019) [4] . Economics is an important consideration in the development of any value-added food product because an increase in the quantity of a costly ingredient may increase the production cost. Poul et al. (2010) [3] reported increasing production costs for custard apple milkshake with increasing incorporation of pulp, while Mule et al. (2014) [2] reported that milkshake containing 5% fig pulp was more cost-effective than formulations containing higher levels of fig pulp.

Buffalo Milk

Fresh and clean composite samples of buffalo milk were procured from the local market of Nagpur. Before use, the milk was filtered through a clean muslin cloth to remove extraneous matter. The milk was analyzed for fat, total solids, acidity, protein, ash, solid-not-fat and moisture.

Dragon Fruit

Fresh dragon fruits were purchased from the local market of Nagpur. The fruits were washed thoroughly with clean water to remove adhering dust and soil and were dried using a clean cloth. The fruits were manually peeled and the pulp was separated. The pulp was mashed using a spoon to obtain a uniform dragon fruit pulp.

Sugar

Good-quality cane sugar was procured from the local market and was added at 6 per cent in all treatments.

Treatment Details

Five treatment combinations were studied with five replications. Different levels of dragon fruit pulp were incorporated into buffalo milk as follows: Sugar was added at 6% in all treatments. The experiment was conducted using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with five treatments and five replications.

Preparation of Dragon Fruit Milkshake

The milkshake was prepared according to the following procedure:

Cost of production of Dragon fruit milkshake Cost will be calculated as per prevailing rates of milk and other ingredients use for preparation of dragon fruit milkshake blended with different levels of dragon fruit pulp.

Result and Discussion

The effect of addition of dragon fruit pulp on the cost structure of milkshake prepared under various treatments was studied and presented in Table 1.

The cost of production of 1 litre of dragon fruit milkshake under different treatments was calculated by considering the prevailing retail market prices of the ingredients used, such as buffalo milk, sugar and dragon fruit pulp. Other expenses, including labour, fuel and miscellaneous charges, were also taken into account for calculating the total cost of production. The data showed that the cost of production of 1 litre of dragon fruit milkshake gradually increased with an increase in the level of dragon fruit pulp. The higher cost at increased pulp levels may be attributed to the additional quantity of dragon fruit pulp used in the respective treatments.

The data presented in Table 1 indicates the cost of production of 1 litre dragon fruit milkshake prepared with addition of dragon fruit pulp at 0% T 1 , 6% T 2 , 8% T 3 , 10% T 4 and 12% T 5 as Rs 111.57, Rs 127.02, Rs 131.81, Rs 136.43 and Rs 140.90. Sawale (2008) [5] reported that the cost of production of 1 litre sapota milkshake increased from ₹27.83 in control (T₁) to ₹28.86, ₹28.88 and ₹29.40 with increasing levels of sapota pulp (T₂, T₃ and T₄), respectively. Poul et al. (2009) [3] reported that the cost of production of custard apple milkshake increased with increasing levels of custard apple pulp. The cost per litre increased from ₹24.98 in control to ₹30.65, ₹33.49 and ₹36.32 with 10, 15 and 20 per cent pulp, respectively. The increase in production cost was mainly due to the additional quantity of fruit pulp used in the formulation. Similar increasing trends can therefore be expected in fruit-based milkshakes with higher pulp incorporation. Similarly, Hingane et al. (2016) [1] reported that the cost of papaya milkshake increased from ₹65.31 to ₹66.06 per litre with an increase in papaya pulp from 5 to 20 per cent.

Conclusion

The cost of production of dragon fruit milkshake increased progressively with increasing levels of dragon fruit pulp, from ₹111.57/L in T₁ (0%) to ₹140.90/L in T₅ (12%). Among the treatments, T₄ (10% dragon fruit pulp) was considered economically suitable, with a production cost of ₹136.43/L and the highest overall acceptability.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementI am thankful to the Head of the Animal husbandry and Dairy Science section, College of Agriculture, Nagpur for providing all the necessary facilities for conducting the research work.

References

1. Hingane P, Gubbawar SG, Darade R, Rede AT. Sensory evaluation of papaya milk shake. IMPACT Int J Res Appl Nat Soc Sci. 2016;4(10):17-22.
2. Mule PR, Barbind RP, Korake RL, Gavit DP. Proximate composition, sensory evaluation, and production cost of fig milk shake prepared from buffalo milk. Anim Sci Rep. 2014;8(2):43-47.
3. Poul SP, Sontakke AT, Munde SS, Adangale AB. Composition and economics of custard apple milk shake. Asian J Anim Sci. 2010;4(2):139-142.
4. Rijal TR, Baniya K, Bhandari P. Nutritional and functional properties of dragon fruit peel and its health benefits. J Food Sci Technol. 2019;57(4):1449-1461.
5. Sawale ND. Preparation of buffalo milk shake by utilization of sapota pulp [MSc thesis]. Akola (Maharashtra): Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth; 2008.