1Department of Physics, Amity Institute of Applied Sciences, Amity University, Noida-201 313, Uttar Pradesh, India
2Division of Germplasm Evaluation, ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi-110 012, India
3Department of Applied Science and Humanities, Rajkiya Engineering College, Ambedkar Nagar-224 122, Uttar Pradesh, India
*Corresponding Author: Satyendra Pratap Singh, Department of Physics, Amity Institute of Applied Sciences, Amity University, Noida-201 313, Uttar Pradesh, India, Email: spsingh9@amity.edu
Online Published on 03 November, 2025.
Agricultural products are essential for human beings and maintaining their quality and storing them under optimal conditions is important. Sesame is a widely used cooking oil. Oil production and quality are important aspects of the food industry. However, during storage, the quality of sesame seeds can be greatly affected by factors such as moisture content, microbial growth and pests. Conventional techniques for eliminating pests and drying frequently entail the use of chemicals or high temperatures, which could cause health hazards and diminish the nutritional value of the seeds. However, dielectric measurement is a low-cost, rapid and effective technique for the detection and quality assessment of agricultural products.
A specially designed coaxial sample holder was connected to an LCR Meter by using a computer-controlled interface. It operates on the principle of a cylindrical capacitor and is based on the cavity perturbation technique. The sample was contained in the cavity of a cylindrical sample holder and a specifically constructed temperature controller sensor assembly was used to regulate the temperature. Five different moisture concentrations of sesame oilseeds were prepared to study their dielectric permittivity, electrical conductivity and penetration depth over the frequency range of 100 Hz to 5 MHz.
This study indicates that the dielectric constant tends to change in a more regular and understandable manner as the frequency and moisture content vary, whereas the behaviour of the dielectric loss factor was less predictable and more irregular in response to the same changes. A linear regression model was developed to investigate the impact of the dielectric constant and loss on frequency and temperature. An R2 value of 0.705 indicates that the model is well explained, with 27.6% of the variance in temperature and frequency.
Dielectric constant, Dielectric loss, Electrical conductivity, Moisture content, Penetration depth
