Vol. 11, Issue 11 (2022)

The study was conducted to investigate some moisture-dependent physical properties of mahua seed namely, seed dimensions, thousand seed mass, sphericity, bulk density, true density, porosity, angle of repose and static coefficient of friction against different materials. The physical properties of mahua seed were evaluated as a function of moisture content in the range of 9 –18% (d.b.). The average length, width, thickness and 1000 seed mass were 29.80mm, 16.65mm, 1.34mm and 1954 g, respectively at moisture content of 9% d.b. The geometric mean diameter and sphericity increased from 18.77 to 19.17 mm and 0.63 to 0.64 as moisture content increased from 9 to 18% d.b., respectively. In the same moisture range, bulk densities of the rewetted mahua seed increased from 443.4 to 646.8 kg/m³, true density increased from 635.6 to 973.2 kg/m³, and the corresponding porosity increased from 30.24 to 33.54%. As the moisture content increased from 9 to 18% d.b., the angle of repose and the statics coefficient of friction against mild steel and plywood were increased from 35° to 41° and 0.413 to 0.457 and 0.365 to 0.392 respectively.