Some Physical Properties of Palmyrah Palm (Borassus flabellifer L.) Fruits

Abstract

Some physical properties of palmyrah fruit were investigated in this study. The average values of major, medium, minor and geometric mean diameters of fresh whole palmyrah fruit were 11.54,10.45, 9.85 and 10.64 cm respectively at 47.34 % (w.b) moisture content whereas that of palmyrah nut were 8.59, 7.35, 4.99 and 6.79 cm respectively at 8% (w.b) moisture content. Sphericity, surface area and aspect ratio were found to be 91.94%, 359.17 cm2 and 0.90 for fruit and whereas that of nut were 79.19%, 145.16 cm2 and 0.86 respectively. The average mass of the individual palmyrah fruit and nut was 927.78 and 248.10 g whereas bulk density was 525.92 and 693.0 kg/m3 respectively. The coefficient of static friction on mild steel, glass and plywood surfaces were 0.27, 0.21 and 0.25 for palmyrah fruit and 0.36, 0.28 and 0.27 for nut respectively. The angle of repose of palmyrah fruit and nut were 30.77 and 44.03 respectively.