Geometrical properties of underutilized cereal varieties of Himalayan origin for the development of future processing equipments.
Abstract This paper presents the database of physical and engineering characteristics of grains and flours of five underutilized cereal varieties viz sorghum, buck wheat, pearl millet, proso millet and barley of Himalayan origin. The results revealed a significant difference in width, length and breadth of these cereals. The sphericity value of cereal grains showed significant difference (p≤0.05) in the range 97.42 to 137.25.84% which was found to be highest for sorghum grain while as aspect ratio was found highest for proso millet grain. The static coefficient of friction samples was found maximum on corrugated board for the flour and grain. The hausner ratio and compressibility index indicated poor flowability of the sorghum flour. The bulk density, tapped density and porosity values of cereal grains varied significantly for cereal grains as well as flours. ATR-FTIR (attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) confirmed the different types of linkages present in the flour samples found within the absorption bands of 3500-993 cm-1.