P. Hemasankari, B. Dayakar Rao, Avinash Singode, A. Srinivas, K.N. Ganapathi and C. Tara Sathyavathi
Abstract
Finger millets are grown for their nutritional significance and are subjected to processing for making value added products. Physical properties are used for design and development of machineries for cleaning, grading, dehulling, conveying and polishing. The finger millet cultivars are obtained after harvest from ICAR-IIMR field and tested for its moisture content at wet basis (%) using Indosaw moisture meter. The physical properties of selected 7 cultivars of finger millet (Eleusine corocana L.), CFMV-2, KMR204, Suvarnamukhi, Vegavathi, PR-204, Dhalamandia and Bhalumandia were tested for its physical properties like moisture content,% wet basis, length, width, thickness, sphericity, aspect ratio, volume, frontal area, different diameters, geometric mean diameter, arithmetic mean diameter, square mean diameter, equivalent mean diameter, shape factor, 1000 grain weight, bulk density, true density porosity, angle of repose and coefficient of friction parameters. The moisture content in wet basis of the cultivars ranges from 13.8% to 16.3%ñ0.32. The importance of length, width and thickness decides the aperture size of the machine in separation process of materials. The length, width and thickness ranges from 1.5-1.92 mmñ0.02, 1.2-1.75 mmñ0.05 and 1.26-1.56 mñ0.06. Finger millet gains significance among all millets because of its calcium content that is more than in rice and wheat. The fresh finger millet after harvest was obtained from the field of ICAR-IIMR and was subjected to soaking and then cooking. Water uptake ratio ranged between 1.40- 1.60ñ0.03. The grains with higher bulk density exhibit slow water uptake and thus result in longer cooking periods. Hydration capacity ranged between 21.64-82.32ñ41.53. Hydration index ranged between 0.87-3.29ñ1.66. Swelling capacity ranged between 13.51-44.44ñ3.89. Swelling index ranged between 0.42-1.48ñ0.73. More the swelling power of the grain less is the nutrient density. 1000 kernel density ranged between 708.74-1150 ñ 70.98. Percentage increase in weight of the cooked millet is 2.06-3.84ñ 0.23. Percentage increase in volume is 0.14-0.44ñ0.04. Generally the grain in the malted form is expected to be more nutritious than that of the ordinary grain. The grain moisture content before malting ranges in between 13.8-16.3%wb. Values were the result of two replications and tested for 5% level of significance. (pïâ£0.05). The values were tested for its significance using SPSS 16.0 version. Three dimensional graphs were drawn using Design Expert Software version 12.0.