Determination of some physical and mechanical properties of pea (Pisum sativum L.) seeds

In the present study some physical properties of pea seeds at different moisture content (4.47 to 61.23%) were estimated. The results revealed that mean values of seed length, width, thickness, geometric mean diameter, sphericity, seed weight and volume were 9.42, 6.71, 7.42, 8.43 mm, 85.0%, 0.32 g and 0.20 cm3, respectively. As moisture content increased from 4.47 to 61.23%, true density, porosity, projected area and terminal velocity were raised from 1480 to 1990 kg m-3, 62.0 to 75.0%, 52.34 to 91.46 mm2 and 7.67 to 9.75 m sec-1, respectively. Furthermore, bulk density was decreased from 600 to 490 kg m-3 for the same moisture content range. © 2006 Asian Network for Scientific Information.