Process protocol for mechanical separation of fruit core and seeds from apple fruits

Apple seeds separated from apple pomace are utilized for raising apple nurseries by orchardists. Owing to crushing of seeds during juice extraction the germination capacity is very low with poor seed vigour. An attempt was made to develop a hand tool for separation of core from the fruit for its use in separation of seeds. Seeds were evaluated for their germination capacity for use in raising apple nurseries. On the basis of fruit and core dimensions mechanical corer consisting of coring tube internal diameter 22.1 mm, fruit holding cup and plunger device for moving the coring tube was developed. The coring efficiency of the mechanical apple corer (73.4 kg/h) was found about 5.12 times higher as compared to manual coring method (14.3 kg/h). Pre-treatment of fruit core by using pectinase (1%) enzyme for 24 hours was optimized for softening of the fruit core prior to seed separation. The softened fruit core was found suitable for passing through the mechanical seed separator for separation of seeds. The average seed extraction rate in mechanical seed separator (311.53 g/h) was found 18 times higher as compared to manual seed separation method (17.28 g/h) with negligible seed damage. The germination potential of the seeds separated through mechanical seed separator was found to be 89.9 per cent as compared to only 65.3 per cent germination recorded in seeds separated from apple pomace left after juice extraction. Thus method of mechanical separation of apple seeds can be adopted by the orchardists as well as fruit processing units to serve the apple industry for raising rootstocks.