The influence of drying on the physiological quality of crambe fruits

Lílian   Moreira Costa; Osvaldo   Resende; Douglas   Nascimento Gonçalves; Kelly Aparecida   de Souza; Juliana   de Fátima Sales; Juliana   Rodrigues Donadon

The influence of drying on the physiological quality of crambe fruits

Autores

Lílian Moreira Costa

Osvaldo Resende

Douglas Nascimento Gonçalves

Kelly Aparecida de Souza

Juliana de Fátima Sales

Juliana Rodrigues Donadon

Editor

Universidade Estadual de Maringá

Descripción

This study was performed to evaluate the physiological quality of Crambe abyssinica Hochst fruits subjected to drying under diff erent treatments with air. The crambe fruits, with moisture content of 21.0 ± 1.3 (% w.b.), were manually collected and drie d until their moisture content reached 7.0 ± 1.4 (% w.b.). The crambe fruits were drie d with natural air (23°C mean temp erature and 60.6% average relative humidity) and seven days after harvest in an experiment al dryer with forced ventil ation at temperatures of 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70°C and relative humidities of 37.4, 22.3, 14.0, 8.3 and 5.1%, respectively. The evaluation was the percent germination, the germination speed index (GSI), the amount of water absorption and the electrical conduc tivity. The results of the study show ed that increases in the drying temperature decreased the drying time and negatively a ffected the quality of the fruits. The study’s findings for the GSI and for the percent germination showed th at the drying temperature of 30°C yielded superior results. The moisture content of the crambe fruits afte r absorption was higher at the drying temperatures of 23, 40 and 70ºC. In contrast, the electrical conductivi ty measurement was unaffected by drying at high temperatures.