Physical properties of cumin and caraway seeds

Abstract

A b s t r a c t. Physical properties of cumin and caraway seeds were measured and compared at constant moisture content of 7.5% w.b. The average thousand mass of grain, mean length, mean width, mean thickness, equivalent diameter, geometric mean diameter, surface area, volume, sphericity, aspect ratio, true density, bulk density and porosity were measured for cumin and caraway. There are significant differences (p<0.01) in most physical properties of cumin and caraway, except porosity and sphericity.K e y w o r d s: physical properties, cumin seed, caraway seed, friction coefficient, angle of repose INTRODUCTIONCumin is one of the most important medicinal and spice plants in the world grown in Iran and other countries since many years ago. There are two types of cumin seeds. Cumin (Cuminum cyminum) called green cumin in Iran, is a small 15-50 cm high gramineous plant with long and thin roots, very thin leaves, and white or pink flowers. This plant is native to Egypt and Nile shores. Caraway (Carum carrvi) called black cumin in Iran, is a two-year 30-60 cm high plant having empty stems and thin light green leaves; it is native to a limited area of west Asia including the eastern regions of Iran. Due to their numerous applications in medicine and as food additives, the cultivation of these plants has been increased in recent years. Nowadays, Iran is one of the exporters of these products. Physical properties are very important factors in designing agricultural equipment such as dryers, aerators, cleaners, and conveyers. Measuring principal axial dimensions of grain is important in selecting grain separating sieves and removing foreign materials from the product. Furthermore, these dimensions are used in calculating surface area, volume, and sphericity of grain which are useful in designing postharvest equipmens. (Correa et al., 2007), raw and parboiled paddy (Reddy and Chakravertyj, 2004), and hemp seeds (Sacilik et al., 2003; flaxseed (Singh et al., 2012) and corn seed (Babic et al., 2013).As far as we know, no study has been reported on the physical properties of cumin and caraway. Therefore, our aim in this study was determine the physical properties of cumin and caraway seeds which provide the basic information for designing grain handling and processing machinery. MATERIALS AND METHODSIn this study, cumin and caraway seeds were obtained from local shops. Before measuring the properties of grains, foreign matters such as dust, stones, straw, and chaff were removed manually from the rest of grains. The initial moisture content of seeds was determined using the standard method (Brusewitz, 1975). The average moisture content was 7.5% (w.b.), determined through an oven method at 105 ±3°C during 24 h according to Correa et al., (2007). The principal dimensions (length, width, thickness) of randomly selected cumin and caraway grains were measured using a digital micrometer having the accuracy of 0.001 mm.Int. Agrophys., 2013Agrophys., , 27, 491-494 doi: 10.2478Agrophys., /intag-2013 Physical properties of cumi...

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