CROP CHARACTERISTICS

PROPERTIES OF CROP COMMODITIES

1. Physical characteristics
2. Thermal characteristics
3. Mechanical characteristics
4. Pneumatic characteristics
5. Electrical characteristics
6. Optical characteristics
7. Biological characteristics
 Physical characteristics

• Shape
• Size
• Volume
• Surface roughness
• Surface area
• Density
• Porosity
• Colour
• Appearance
• Weight – moisture relationships
Physical characteristics – Application
- Heat transfer problems
- Design of colour sorters
- Weight – moisture relationships
- Determine drying rates
- Quality loss
Bulk Density or Test Density (kgm-3)
• Mass of a fixed volume of grain indicates if
there are many empty of poorly filled grains
• Important
- Transport purposes
- Storage space requirement
- indicator of bread-making potential (wheat)
• Measured by filling a container of a
standardized volume and weighing the grain
that fits in that container
 Test weight or bulk density or test
density
• Weight/unit volume kg/m³ or kg/hℓ
• Measurement of how well grain kernels are
filled
• A container with a standard volume used
• *Important for transport purposes and for
processes where gas has to pass through the
grain (e.g. fumigation, pneumatic transport)
• Wheat - indicates breadmaking potential
 Angle of repose
• Angle formed by outer edge of grain when
freely poured on horizontal surface
• Angle specific to grain
• Once angle is exceeded grain flows easily until
angle is established again
• Important in grain flow and designing hoppers
 Factors determining Angle of
repose
• If the angle of repose is >> angle of delivery
part of a hopper, grain wont flow easily
• XX
• XX
 Properties of Grains
Crop Bulk Density Natural Angle V (ms-1)
(ρ) (kgm-3) of repose (₀)
*Maize 750 - 840 24 – 26 10.6
Wheat 753 - 781 16 – 26 9
Sorghum 641 – 744 20 – 33
Millet 615 - 705 24 - 33

*Dependent on mc
* Maize @ 11.8% has ρ = 720 kgm-3
 Thermal characteristics

• Specific heat capacity

• Thermal conductivity
• Thermal diffusivity
• Surface conductance
• Emissivity
 Thermal properties

• Valuable in thermal processing - heating

- cooling
- drying
- freezing

• Heat treatment - Time & temp - critical

Viability
• Influence Nutritive value appearance/colour
Final quality texture
Flavour
 Thermal Conductivity
• Food grains have a low thermal (heat)
conductivity
Disadvantage
• Temp differences can be very localized and
therefore difficult to detect
Advantage
• Outside temperature fluctuations have little
effect on temp of large grain mass
•
 Mechanical characteristics

• Hardness
• Compressive strength
• Impact and shear resistance
• Static & sliding coefficients of friction
• Angle of repose
• Test weight
 Mechanical properties
• To determine resistance to:
– Cracking
– Bruising @ harvesting & handling
– Skinning
• To determine selection processing method
• Coefficients of friction on various surfaces important to
determine motion in harvesting and handling
equipment
• Conveyer belt or glass tube to transport product
• Coefficients of friction used to determine force vs walls
of stored products vs walls
 Pneumatic characteristics

• Aerodynamics
• Hydrodynamics
• Terminal velocity
 Electrical characteristics

• Electrical conductance
• Dielectric properties
• Electromagnetic response
 Optical characteristics

• Transmittance
• Reflectance/ absorbance
 Biological Properties
1. H₂O => 5 – 95%
Oilseeds ~ 5% (Hort. Crops upto 95% e.g melons ,
cucumber)

↑ mc => careful handling, highly perishable , fungi

2. CH₂O Starch – cereals fructose
Sugars – fruits glucose
sucrose
 Biological Properties cont……
3. Protein – legumes & millet
- amino acids
- T⁰ > 50⁰C – denaturation
4. Lipids – Fats
- avocado, groundnuts
- ↑ lipids => short shelf-life
- germ source of lipids
- Oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids =
rancidity => dvpt of off-flavours
- processed food e.g millet flour easily goes
rancid
- De-germing ↑shelf-life of maize meal
- Germ – oil extraction
 Biological Properties cont……
5. Organic acids – fruits and vegs
Citric Maleic acid
pear apple
tomato bananas
guava melons
citrus
Loss of flavour
6. Vitamins – vegs
can be lost/destroyed at high temps
 Composition of Some Crops
• Wheat
Germ 2%
Endosperm 85%
Bran 13%

Chemical Composition %
Protein Oil Ash Starch
Winter wheat 12.3 1.8 1.7 80-85

Soft red winter wheat 10.2 2.0 1.7 80 -85

Composition of Some Crops cont…
• Maize
Bran 5-6%
Germ 10-14%
Endosperm 80-85%

Chemical Composition %

Protein Oil Ash Carbohydrates

11.0 1.5 0.5 86.5
Composition of Some Crops cont…
• Rice
Hull 20%
Dehulled rice
Pericarp, seed, coat, aleurome : 7%
Germ 2-3%
Endosperm 89-94%
Composition of Some Crops cont…
• Pearl millet
Bran
Germ
Endosperm
Chemical composition
Protein 16%
Starch 56-65%
Lipids 3-7%
Vitamins 2.23mg/100g
Minerals 1.8mg/100g d.b
Composition of Some Crops cont…
• Potatoes
78% water
Protein
Amino acids
Fat
Fibre
Mineral water
Sucrose
Starch 17.4%