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Some physical
properties of spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) seed
Ahmet Kılıçkan*, Necmiye Üçer and
İbrahim Yalçın
Department of Agricultural Machinery, Faculty of
Agriculture, Adnan Menderes University, Aydın, Turkey.
*Corresponding
author.
E-mail:
akilickan@hotmail.com. Tel: +90 256 7727023. Fax: +90
256 7727233.
Accepted 8 January, 2010 |
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The physical properties of spinach seed were evaluated as a
function of moisture content. Average length, width and
thickness were 4.03, 3.51 and 2.44 mm, respectively, at
11.93% dry basis (d.b). moisture content. In the moisture
range from 11.93 to 21.52% d.b. studies on rewetted spinach
seed showed that the thousand seed mass increased from 11.55
to 13.53 g, the projected area from 6.28 to 7.81 mm2,
the sphericity from 0.807 to 0.821 and the terminal velocity
from 6.10 to 6.58 m s-1. The static coefficient
of friction of spinach seed increased linearly against
surfaces of four structural materials, namely, rubber (0.341
to 0.470), wood (0.318 to 0.391), stainless steel (0.271 to
0.364) and galvanised iron (0.321 to 0.388) as the moisture
content increased from 11.93 to 21.52% d.b. The bulk density
decreased from 538.9 to 893.1 kg m-3, the true
density from 893.1 to 784.6 kg m-3 and the
porosity from 39.65 to 36.67% respectively, with an increase
in moisture content from 11.93 to 21.52% d.b.
Key words: Spinach seed, physical properties, moisture content. |
