Physical properties of coriander seeds at different moisture content

Abstract

A b s t r a c t. Physical properties of coriander seeds were determined at moisture content of 3.5-17.7%, d.b. The major axis and 1 000 seeds mass were found to decrease nonlinearly with increase in seed moisture. The medium and minor axes, geometric mean diameter, sphericity, unit volume, surface area and angle of repose increased linearly. Bulk density decreased linearly, however the true density increased non-linearly. The coefficient of static friction increased nonlinearly for different surfaces with increase in moisture level and its maximum was found for plywood surface. The rupture force and energy absorbed decreased linearly with increasing moisture content.K e y w o r d s: coriander, seed, physical properties, moisture content INTRODUCTION Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) is an annual herb from the family Apiaceae and native to southern Europe and North Africa to southwestern Asia. The coriander seeds are almost ovate globular and there are many longitudinal ridges on the surface. Data concerning the physical and mechanical properties of agricultural food materials are of importance to plant breeders, engineers, machine manufactures, food scientists, processors and consumers. Those properties are useful in postharvest unit operations for the design of cleaning, grading, sorting, transportation, handling, aeration, sizing, storing, size reduction, packaging and other processing equipment (Sahay and Singh, 2001). Several investigators have reported the moisture dependence of physical and mechanical properties of chosen agricultural materials ie for black pepper (Murthy and Bhattacharya, 1998), fenugreek (Altuntas et al., 2005); fruit and kernel (Sahoo et al., 2009); rapeseed (Izli et al., 2009); bay laurel seeds (Yurtlu et al., 2010); lentil seed (Bagherpour et al., 2010). Chang (1988) determined the density and porosity of grain kernels using a gas pycnometer. Coskuner and Karababa (2007) determined some physical properties of coriander seeds at different moisture content and reported that the axial dimensions, sphericity, seed volume and surface area, true density, angle of repose, 1 000 seeds mass and coefficient of static friction increased with increase in moisture content except for bulk density.The present work was carried out to understand the physical and mechanical properties of coriander seeds at different moisture content. MATERIALS AND METHODSCoriander seed (RCR-4) was procured from the National Research Centre for Seed Spices, Ajmer (India). The seeds were cleaned manually and broken, and foreign matter, split, deformed and immature seeds were discarded before the samples were prepared for the experiment. The initial moisture content of seed was determined by vacuum oven method (Ranganna, 1986) at 80°C and pressure of 13.33 KPa. The seeds were stored at room temperature (25°C) for 2 to 3 weeks. Initial moisture content of coriander seed was found to be 7.0% d.b. For experimentation, a predetermined quantity of coriander was dried in a tray dryer at 55°C to achieve a desired low moisture c...

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