Parboiling Duration Effects on Physical Properties of African Breadfruit Seed

Abstract

Abstract

Parboiling is a pre-dehulling operation and, the effect on the physical properties of African breadfruit seed (var. africana) was investigated. Freshly extracted seeds were parboiled for 0 (control), 5, 10, 15, and 20 minutes, and their physical properties determined. It was observed that parboiling time had a significant effect (p<0.05) on all the physical properties of African breadfruit seeds investigated. The moisture content of the seed ranged from 32.92±0.23 to 50.78±0.19 % (w.b.) as the parboiling time increased. Generally, it was observed that the mean values observed for the physical dimensions (axial dimensions, mean diameters, sphericity, aspect ratio and surface area) increased from 0 to 10 min. parboiling time after which the mean values were observed to generally decrease. The thousand seed weight ranged from 299.87±1.16 to 334.69±3.55 g as the parboiling time increased from 0 to 20 min. The observed value for the true and bulk densities ranged from 1041.58±7.55 to 1304.38±23.23 kg/m³ and from 626.55±4.21 to 642.90±2.68 kg/m³, respectively. As the parboiling time increased, the true density was observed to increase while the bulk density decreased. No definite trend was observed for the angle of repose and the static coefficient of friction. The filling angle of repose ranged from 33.19±0.38 to 42.00±2.65 ^o, while the funneling angle of repose ranged from 44.34±0.79 to 51.92±3.52 ^o.