Development of a low cost machine for improved sorghum dehulling efficiency
Loading...
Files
Date
2013
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
A Pedal operated sorghum dehuller for dehulling tempered grain was developed and tested for its
performance using two sorghum varieties (Dionje and Jumbo). The use of short tempering duration (10 –
15 minutes) followed by a short resting period (5 – 10 Minutes) to ensured that all the tempering moisture
was absorbed into the grain before the grain was introduced into the dehuller thus eliminating the clogging
problem usually associated with conventional abrasive dehullers. This facilitated the removal of the seed
coat from the endosperm. The obtained results showed that the developed dehuller was able to achieve
high dehulling efficiency (90.1% for Jumbo and 83.4 for Dionje) and high recovery levels compared to
conventional abrasive dehullers (45.6 for Jumbo and 40.3% for Dionje). The quality of the dehulled grain
was also much higher as indicated by the low ash content, low crude fibre content and superior colour of
the flour obtained from the grain dehulled in the developed dehuller compared to flour from grain dehulled
using conventional abrasive dehullers. These results demonstrate that it is possible to achieve high quality
dehulled sorghum product and high dehulling efficiency by incorporating simple and cheap traditional pretreatments
in the mechanical dehulling process. Accordingly, the developed pedal operated dehuller could
be very appropriate for small scale sorghum farmers and consumers in the rural areas where spare parts,
electrical power and competent technicians to run and maintain the conventional abrasive dehullers are
limited.
Description
Tanzania Journal of Agricultural Sciences 2013, Vol. 1292) : 47-54
Keywords
Sorghum, Grain tempering, Dehuller