Physical properties of snake gourd seed (Trichosantes cucumerina L) relevant in grading and seperation

The physical properties of snake gourd (Trancosanties cucumerina L) seed have been evaluated as a function of moisture contents,6.80%, 8.60%, 12.00%, 14.00% and 17.00% (db) moisture contents.  The properties investigated include one thousand mass, dimensions (length, width and thickness), sphericity, volume, true density and bulk density.  The results of the experiment showed that seed length increased from 11.30±0.3 to 12.4±0.50 mm, width (from 5.60±0.30 to 6.60± 0.30 mm), thickness (from 2.0±0.25 to 2.7±0.32 mm), one thousand mass (from 110.0±5.2 to 240.0±6.5 g), geometric mean diameter (from 5.02 ± 0.61 to 6.05±0.52 mm), sphericity (from 0.44±0.05 to 0.49±0.06), volume (from 38.98±4.1to 69.68±5.2 mm3), true density (from 0.91±0.26 to 0.97±0.30) and bulk density (from 0.3360±0.022 to 0.3519±0.012).  The kernel evaluated in the same range of moisture content showed length (5.20±0.67 to 6.60±0.8 mm), width (2.0±0.3 to 3.0±0.6 mm), thickness (0.30 ±0.02 to 0.70 0.041 mm),one thousand mass (60.3±3.0 to 180.4±5 g), geometric mean diameter (0.68±0.05 to 1.11±0.03 mm), sphericity (0.13±0.012 to 0.17± 0.015), volume (8.0±1.22 to 38±4.3 mm3), true density (0.7563±0.12 to 0.8052 ±0.21 g mm-3) and bulk density (0.4132±0.021 to 0.4462±0.011 g cm-3).  The result of analysis shows that the effect of moisture content is significant (

A Review of Oil Palm Fruit Plantation and Production under the Contract-Growers Scheme in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu States of India

Rosana G. Moreira, Editor-in-Chief; Texas A&M UniversityThis is a paper from International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR, Commission Internationale du Genie Rural) E-Journal Volume 9 (2007): A Review of Oil Palm Fruit Plantation and Production under the Contract-Growers Scheme in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu States of India. Invited Overview. Vol. IX. March, 2007

Technological Capability of Palm Oil Mills under the Contract-Growers Scheme in India

Rosana G. Moreira, Editor-in-Chief; Texas A&M UniversityThis is a paper from International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR, Commission Internationale du Genie Rural) E-Journal Volume 9 (2007): Technological Capability of Palm Oil Mills under the Contract-Growers Scheme in India. Manuscript MES 07 003. Vol. IX. November, 2007

Development of computational models for the production of fermented African locust beans using petri net

Production of iru, a fermented condiment from African locust bean is characterized by low productivity and drudgery. The hierarchical timed coloured Petri nets (HTCPN) formalisms were used to design computational models on unit operations of the iru production process. The developed models for the traditional iru production process (TIPP) and mechanized iru production process (MIPP) were simulated using CPN tools varying production scenarios. In this paper, the simulation results revealed that the measured quantities of 16, 32, 48, 80 kg of raw locust bean (iyere) gave production times of 4644, 5094, 5559 and 6493 mins and 4540, 4728, 4910 and 5267 mins for TIPP and MIPP, respectively. The production ratios of iyere:iru (per kg) for the TIPP were observed to be 16:12.8; 32:25.6; 48:38.4 and 80: 64; and for MIPP were 16:12.64; 32:25.28; 48:37.92 and 80:63.2; respectively. The resource (water) usage ratio of TIPP to MIPP (in percentage) was 6.7:10 for the washing operation; 56.67:60 for the long-cooking operation and 23:23 for the short-cooking operation, respectively. The individual dehulling and sieving operations in the TIPP took 1.70 and 11.7, respectively. Meanwhile, combined operations of dehulling and sieving in the MIPP gave 7.00. Conclusively, the mechanized process was found to utilize lesser quantity of water and shorter production time. Hence, more iru was obtained from traditional process. The developed computational models could serve as reference models for future process automation, further studying and improving iru production