Determination of some biophysical properties of Domsiyah Rice

Rice grain, which is a vital economical commodity, has many nutritional and medicinal properties. Therefore knowledge of its physical and engineering properties in the design of post – harvest mechanisms is essential. Information about dimensions, volume, coefficient of static friction, and repose angle in agricultural products on various surfacesis among mechanical properties, which are required in the design of silos, agricultural warehouse, transportation equipment including conveyer belts and spiral conveyers, and also in the design and determination of the efficiency of the post – harvest processing equipment. This study investigated the dimensional, frictional (the coefficient of static friction repose angle on a surface of galvanized iron), geometrical and gravitational (apparent and bulk densities) properties of domsiyah rice grain. The results determined the mean geometric and arithmetic diametersand the sphericity as 4.3, 3.074, and 33.37 respectively. The sample surface area, the large and small curvature radii were determined to be 29.67, 6.51, and 1.69 respectively. The coefficient of static friction and the release repose angle were evaluated as 0.45 and 26.87 respectively. The volume and the apparent and bulk densities were determined as 8.06cm3, 1.46gcm-3, and 750kgm-3 respectively. All of these features can greatly influence the processing of food and agricultural produce. Therefore better recognition of these features and their influence on agricultural produce and food processing can aid the improvement of the quality and better processing of agricultural products.

Domsiyah rice, dimensions, gravitational properties, geometrical properties