Abstract:
Mechanical damage of seeds
due to harvest, handling and other process is
an important factor that affects the quality
and quaintly of seeds. The objective of this
research was to determine the effects of
moisture content and the impact energy on
the breakage susceptibility of vetch seeds.
The experiments were conducted at
moisture contents of 7.57 to 25% (wet basis)
and at the impact energies of 0.1, 0.2 and
0.3 J, using an impact damage assessment
device. The results showed that impact
energy, moisture content, and the interaction
effects of these two variables significantly
influenced the percentage breakage in vetch
seeds (p<0.01). Increasing the impact
energy from 0.1 to 0.3 J caused a significant
increase in the mean values of seeds
breakage from 41.69 to 78.67%. It was
found that the relation between vetch seeds
moisture content and seeds breakage was
non-linear, and the extent of damaged seeds
decreased significantlyas a polynomial
(from 92.47 to 33.56%) with increasing
moisture (from 7.57 to 17.5%) and reached
a minimum at moisture level of about
17.5%. Further increase in seed moisture,
however, caused an increase in the amount
of seeds breakage. Mathematical
relationships composed of seed moisture
content and impact energy, were developed
for accurately description the percentage
breakage of vetch seeds under impact
loading. It was found that the models have
provided satisfactory results over the whole
set of values for the dependent variable.
