Development and testing of pendulum test apparatus for screening soybean varieties resistant to mechanical damage

Information on soybean genetic variability relating to the resistance of seeds to mechanical damage is commonly found in the literature but there is no specific and well adopted method to select for this characteristic. To study the occurrence of this trait a ‘Pendulum Test’ method capable of identifying genotypes with seeds resistant to mechanical damage was developed and tested. The device was built basically with three major components- a) a pendulum shaped hammer to impact the seeds; b) an indented metal plate to house the seeds to be impacted; c) a wooden frame to support the device components. The pendulum kinetic energy at the time it impacts the seed from the 13 cm height free dropping is 0.318 joule. The mechanical damage caused by the free dropping metal pendulum can be evaluated with the help of magnifying glass.