EVALUATION OF SOME DESIGN RELATED PROPERTIES OF KANANNEDO BEAN SEED
Keywords:
Cowpea variety, Data base, kanannedo grain, Physical properties, Post-harvest handlingAbstract
Knowledge of physical properties of agricultural products plays a vital role in the design of machinery for
mechanization of post-harvest handling operations. This study was conducted to evaluate some design related
properties of kanannedo bean seeds, a local variety of cowpea, at the moisture content of 8.67% ± 0.90 (wb). The
results obtained revealed that the mean length, width and thickness of the bean grains were 10.09±0.32mm, 7.00±
0.71mm and 7.75± 0.58mm, respectively, while the mean arithmetic mean diameter, geometric mean diameter,
sphericity, surface area and aspect ratio were estimated at 8.28±0.40 mm, 8.17±0.33 mm, 209.95±0.18 mm2, 0.79
±1.60 and 69.38±2.22%, respectively. The true density, bulk density and porosity of the grains were estimated at 0.94
± 0.01g/cm3, 0.83± 0.01g/cm3 and 52.45±0.60%, respectively. While the angle of repose of the grains was
51.69±1.26o, the coefficient of static friction of the grains against plywood, galvanized iron and plastic glass surfaces
were 0.453±0.01, 0.428±0.01 and 0.426±0.00, respectively. This result could be used as a reference data for design
and development of post-harvest equipment and machines for the kanannedo bean and other related crops.