Moisture-dependent Some Physical Properties of Selected Food Grains

The design of post-harvest equipment is centered on the physical characteristics of agricultural food grains, which are dependent on their moisture content. The physical and engineering properties of materials are decisive in addressing various challenges related to machine design and evaluating how products perform during agricultural processes like handling, planting, harvesting, threshing, cleaning, sorting and drying. In the recent study, numerous physical properties (Bulk density, True density, Porosity, GMD, Sphericity and Surface area) of different food grains (wheat paddy, gram, pigeon pea and pea) were determined at five levels of moisture content i.e. 10%, 13%, 16%, 19% and 22% on wet basis. As the moisture content of food grains increases, their average length (mm), width (mm), thickness (mm), bulk density (kg/m3), true density (kg/m3), porosity (%), geometric mean diameter (mm), sphericity, and surface area (mm2) all show an upward trend.