Abstract

Negro pepper is a spice with high nutritional value and several beneficial phytochemical compounds. Physical attributes of biomaterial are important in many problems associated with the design of machines and the analysis of the behavior of the product during agricultural processing operations such as handling, planting, harvesting, milling, threshing, cleaning, grading, sorting and drying. This study was aimed at determining some physical properties of Negro pepper seed xylopia aethiopica including axial dimensions, grain mass, bulk and true densities and porosity. Manual methods of measurements were employed in which the seeds were either measured directly or in bulk. Other parameters were calculated such as arithmetic, geometric mean diameter and sphericity. Seed weight and volumes were measured by using standard measuring equipment. All properties were determined at a fixed moisture content. The result of the study showed that the average length, width and thickness of the negro pepper seed were 5.99 0.42, 3.51 0.25 and 3.05 0.14mm respectively. Geometric mean diameter and sphericity of the Negro Pepper Seed were obtained as 3.80 0.13mm and 65.53. 0.11 respectively. The Solid density, Porosity and bulk density for negro pepper seeds were 0.56 0.25 g m3 49.50 0.22 and 1.125 0.31 g m3 respectively all measurement were obtained at a seed moisture content of 37.5 wet basis. Elijah G. Ikrang | Anyanwu, C. Solomon "Some Physical Properties of Negro Pepper Seed (Xylopia Aethiopica) Necessary for Post- Harvest Handling" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-3 | Issue-6 , October 2019, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd29184.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/engineering/civil-engineering/29184/some-physical-properties-of-negro-pepper-seed--xylopia-aethiopica-necessary-for-post--harvest-handling/elijah-g-ikrang

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