2012
WAMS 2012 Proceeding
Evaluation and modeling the mechanical damage to cowpea seeds under successive impact loadings
Authors: Feizollah Shahbazi, Ali Dowlatshah, Saman Valizadeh
Abstract
Mechanical damage of seeds due to harvest, handling and other process is an important factor that affects the quality and quaintly of seeds. Mechanical damage to the cowpea seeds with moisture contents of 9.65 to 25% (wet basis) at four impact velocities from 7.5 to 15 m/s, was evaluated using an impact damage assessment device. The results showed that impact velocity, moisture content, and the interaction effects of these two variables significantly influenced the percentage physical damage in cowpea seeds (p<0.01). Increasing the impact velocity from 7.5 to 15 m/s caused a significant (p<0.05) increase in the mean values of damage from 4.42 to 33.58%. The mean values of physical damage decreased significantly (p<0.05) by a factor of 2.77 (from 29.56 to 10.64%), with increase in the moisture content from 9.65 to 20%. However, by a higher increase in the moisture from 20 to 25%, the mean value of damage showed a non-significant increasing trend. There was an optimum moisture level of 20%, at which seed damage was minimized. An empirical model developed composed of seed moisture content and velocity of impact developed for accurately description the percentage physical damage to cowpea seeds. It was found that the model has provided satisfactory results over the whole set of values for the dependent variable.
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