DETERMINATION OF SOME PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SUMMER SQUASH (cucurbita pepo) RELATED TO POST-HARVESTING PROCESSES.

Abstract

The present work aims to study some physical and mechanical properties of squash fruit (Cucurbita pepo), to serve as a database to be used in the design and development of machines used in postharvest processes such as extraction machines for squash fruit. The main results in this study can be summarized as follows: The average fruit length and diameter were 238.72 and 92.17 mm respectively. The average volume. was 819.26 cm 3 . The average mass was 614.34 g. The fruit's real density of the sample ranged between 0.72 and 1.3 g/cm 3 (average 0.8 g/cm 3 ). The fruit projected area of the sample ranges between 187.53 and 257.5cm 2 (average 219.97 cm 2 ). The maximum friction angle of 30 degree and the rolling angle of 27 degree were obtained with the wood surface. Whereas, the minimum friction and rolling angles of 19 and 13 degree respectively, were obtained with aluminum surface. The maximum and minimum penetration forces were 48.88 and 44.5 N, respectively. The firmness distribution along the squash surface at 10 and 5mm from the top of the fruit were 115.68 and 105.33N/cm 2 , respectively. The maximum, minimum and average axial cutting forces of squash fruits were 68, 35 and 43.75N, respectively. The data obtained were subjected to descriptive statistics such as range (maximum "Max" and minimum "Min"), mean, standard deviation (SD), coefficient of variation (CV), frequency distribution, and coefficient of correlation by using a spreadsheet software program (Microsoft Excel 365) .