1Research Scholar, Department of Food and Agricultural Process Engineering, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore
2Professor, Department of Food and Agricultural Process Engineering, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore
3Assistant Professor (Horticulture), Department of Food and Agricultural Process Engineering, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore
4Professor (Maths), Department of Physical Science and Information Technology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641003
*Corresponding author email address: asha.oct11@gmail.com
Online published on 2 January, 2019.
Selected physical properties of dehusked coconut as length, width, thickness, geometric mean diameter, sphericity, surface area, bulk density and true density were investigated. Compositional changes in coconut fruits, including volume and weight, shell weight, weight of mature coconut water, wet and dry flesh weight, thickness of the flesh and shell were also evaluated. The average fruit length, major diameter and minor diameter were 99.2±13.3 mm, 91.5±8.9 mm, and 89.5±8.7 mm, respectively; while the sphericity, true density, bulk density and surface area were 0.90±0.05, 998±68.8 kg.m−3, 483±37.3 kg.m−3 and 274.2±50.4 cm2, respectively. The frequency distribution of the major diameter and the fruit mass followed the Gaussian model. Correlations between fruit characteristics were also determined. Results indicated that fruit weight and total wet flesh weight were closely correlated, and both of these characteristics can be used as an indicator of fruit size.
Dehusked coconut, physical properties, correlation and frequency distribution
