SHRINKAGE AND MOISTURE LOSS OF DRIED MELON SEEDS

Abstract

Samples of 100g clean, mature, freshly washed melon seeds were dried at intervals of 1/4, 1/2, 1 and 2h in an air-oven at 60O C. The experiments were carried out with five different bulk samples of melon seeds. The moisture content of the seeds at each drying stage was determined.

The moisture loss in grams per kilogram dry matter(gkg-1 DM) and the percentage shrinkage(%) of the melon seeds when dried from 10 moisture content levels to 25.6, 21.8, 19.2, 15.3, 10.1 and 7.4 % moisture content(wb) were determined.


The study showed that fresh melon seeds dried to 7.4% moisture content(wb) lost 539.2 grams of moisture per kilogram dry matter and the percentage shrinkage of the seeds was 33.9%. Graphs of moisture loss in grams per kilogram dry matter were plotted against percentage shrinkage. A straight line relationship was found to exist between the moisture loss and shrinkage of melon seeds dried down to 7.4% mc(wb).


Key words: Drying, moisture loss, shrinkage


[Global Jnl Engineering Res. Vol.1(1) 2002: 11-16]