Journal of Food Engineering 74 (2006) 523–528

www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Physical properties of sweet corn seed (Zea mays saccharata Sturt.)

_
M. Bülent Cosßkun, Ibrahim Yalçın *, Cengiz Özarslan
Department of Agricultural Machinery, Faculty of Agriculture, Adnan Menderes University, Aydın, Turkey

Received 26 October 2004; accepted 7 March 2005

Available online 23 May 2005

Abstract

The physical properties of sweet corn seed were determined as a function of moisture content in the range of 11.54–19.74% dry
basis (d.b.). The average length, width and thickness were 10.56 mm, 7.91 mm and 3.45 mm, at a moisture content of 11.54% d.b.,
respectively. In the moisture range from 11.54% to 19.74% d.b., studies on rewetted sweet corn seed showed that the thousand seed
mass increased from 131.2 to 145.5 g, the projected area from 59.72 to 75.57 mm2, the sphericity from 0.615 to 0.635, the true density
from 1133.8 to 1225.5 kg m
3, the porosity from 57.48% to 61.30% and the terminal velocity from 5.56 to 5.79 m s
1. The bulk den-
sity decreased from 482.1 to 474.3 kg m
3 with an increase in the moisture content range of 11.54–19.74% d.b. The static coefficient
of friction of sweet corn seed increased the linearly against surfaces of four structural materials, namely, rubber (0.402–0.494), alu-
minium (0.321–0.441), stainless steel (0.267–0.401) and galvanised iron (0.364–0.477) as the moisture content increased from 11.54%
to 19.74% d.b.
Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Sweet corn seed; Physical properties; Moisture content

1. Introduction carried out on the physical properties of sweet corn seed

Sweet corn (Zea mays saccharata Sturt.) is a culti-
vated plant grown for fresh consumption and raw
material of canned food industry. It contains 3.35 g pro-
tein, 10 g oil, 221 g carbohydrates, 0.03 g calcium, 1.11 g
phospor, 2.8 g potassium per kg (Çetinkol, 1989).
Planted area of sweet corn is increasing year by year
in Turkey. Also, it has been estimated that the planted
area of sweet corn will increase with the knowledge
about sweet corn (Turgut, 2000).
In order to design equipment for the handling, con-
veying, separation, drying, aeration, storing and pro-
cessing of sweet corn seed, it is necessary to determine
their physical properties as a function of moisture con-
tent. However, no published work seems to have been
*
Corresponding author. Fax: +90 256 7727233.
_ Yalçın).
E-mail address: iyalcin45@yahoo.com (I.
and their relationship with moisture content. Hence,
this study was conducted to investigate some moisture
dependent physical properties of sweet corn seed
namely, sphericity, thousand seed mass, projected area,
bulk density, true density, porosity, terminal velocity
and static coefficient of friction against different
materials.
2. Material and methods
The dry seeds of sweet corn cultivar, Merit F1 were
used for all the experiments in this study. The seeds were
cleaned manually to remove all foreign matter such as
dust, dirt, stones and chaff as well as immature, broken
seeds. The initial moisture content of the seeds was
determined by oven drying at 105 ± 1 °C for 24 h (Özar-
slan, 2002). The initial moisture content of the seeds was
11.54% d.b.

0260-8774/$ - see front matter Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2005.03.039
524 M.B. Cosßkun et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 74 (2006) 523–528
Nomenclature
Ap projected area, mm2
L length of seed, mm
m1000 thousand seed mass, g
Mc moisture content, % d.b.
Mf final moisture content of sample, % d.b.
Mi initial moisture content of sample, % d.b.
Pf porosity, %
Q mass of water to added, kg
T thickness of seed, mm
Vt terminal velocity, m s
1
W width of seed, mm
Wi initial mass of sample, kg
The samples of the desired moisture contents were
prepared by adding the amount of distilled water as cal-
culated from the following relation (Sacilik, Öztürk, &
Keskin, 2003):
W i ðM f
M i Þ
Q¼
ð100
M f Þ
The samples were then poured into separate polyethyl-
ene bags and the bags sealed tightly. The samples were
kept at 5 °C in a refrigerator for a week to enable the
moisture to distribute uniformly throughout the sample.
Before starting a test, the required quantity of the seed
was taken out of the refrigerator and allowed to equili-
brate to the room temperature for about 2 h (Singh &
Goswami, 1996).
All the physical properties of the seeds were deter-
mined at four moisture contents in the range of 11.54–
19.74% d.b. with 10 replications at each moisture
content. These values are within the range of moisture
contents for sweet corn seed recommended for safe
module storage as 14.94% d.b. (Kırtok, 1998).
To determine the average size of the seed, 100 seeds
were randomly picked and their three linear dimensions
namely, length L, width W and thickness T were mea-
sured using a micrometer with a accuracy of 0.01 mm.
The sphericity of seeds / was calculated by using the
following relationship (Mohsenin, 1970):
1=3
ðLWT Þ
/¼
L surface with the cylinder resting on it was raised gradu-
The one thousand seed mass was determined by means
of an electronic balance reading to 0.001 g.
The projected area of a seed was measured by a scan-
ner connected to a computer. For this purpose, a special
computer program was used (Özarslan, 2002).
The average bulk density of the sweet corn seed was
determined using the standard test weight procedure re-
ported by Singh and Goswami (1996) by filling a
container of 500 ml with the seed from a height of
a angle of tilt, degree
l static coefficient of friction
qb bulk density, kg m
3
qt true density, kg m
3
/ sphericity of seed
Subscripts
al aluminium
gi galvanised iron
ru rubber
ss stainless steel
150 mm at a constant rate and then weighing the
content.
The average true density was determined using the
toluene displacement method. The volume of toluene
displaced was found by immersing a weighed quantity
ð1Þ of sweet corn seed in the toluene (Öğüt, 1998; Singh &
Goswami, 1996).
The porosity was calculated from the following rela-
tionship (Mohsenin, 1970):
P f ¼ ð1
qb =qt Þ  100 ð3Þ
where Pf is the porosity in %; qb is the bulk density in
kg m
3; and qt is the true density in kg m
3.
The terminal velocities of seeds at different moisture
contents were measured using a cylindrical air column
(Joshi, Das, & Mukherjee, 1993). For each experiment,
a sample was dropped into the air stream from the top
of the air column, up which air was blown to suspend
the material in the air stream. The air velocity near the
location of the seed suspension was measured by a hot
wire anemometer having a least count of 0.01 m s
1.
The static coefficient of friction of sweet corn seed
against four different structural materials, namely rub-
ber, aluminium, stainless steel and galvanised iron was
determined. A polyvinylchloride cylindrical pipe of
50 mm in diameter and 50 mm in height was placed on
an adjustable tilting plate, faced with the test surface
and filled with the seed sample. The cylinder was raised
slightly so as not to touch the surface. The structural
ð2Þ
ally with a screw device until the cylinder just started to
slide down and the angle of tilt a was read from a grad-
uated scale (Singh & Goswami, 1996; Suthar & Das,
1996). The coefficient of friction was calculated from
the following relationship:
l ¼ tan a ð4Þ
where l is the coefficient of friction; and a is the angle of
tilt in degrees.
 M.B. Cosßkun et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 74 (2006) 523–528 525

3. Results and discussion m1000 ¼ 112.43 þ 1.656 M c ðR2 ¼ 0.9858Þ ð5Þ

A linear increase in the one thousand sweet corn seed
3.1. Seed dimensions and size distribution
mass as the seed moisture content increases has been
noted by Sacilik et al. (2003) for hemp, Yalçın and Özar-
The mean dimensions of 100 seeds measured at a
slan (2004) for vetch and Öğüt (1998) for white lupin.
moisture content of 11.54% d.b. are: length 10.56 ±
0.78 mm, width 7.91 ± 0.57 mm, and thickness 3.45 ±
3.3. Projected area of seed
0.35 mm. The frequency distribution curves (Fig. 1)
for the mean values of the dimensions show a trend to-
The projected area of sweet corn seed increased from
wards a normal distribution. About 84% of the seeds
59.72 to 75.57 mm2, when the moisture content of seed
have a length ranging from 9.0 to 12.0 mm; about
increased from 11.54 to 19.74% d.b. (Fig. 3). The varia-
89%, a width ranging from 6.0 to 9.0 mm; and about
tion in projected area with moisture content of corn seed
83%, a thickness ranging from 2.5 to 4.0 mm at
can be represented by the following equation:
11.54% d.b. moisture content.
Ap ¼ 38.057 þ 1.8576M c ðR2 ¼ 0.9886Þ ð6Þ
3.2. One thousand seed mass
Similar trends have been reported by Çarman (1996) for
lentil, Özarslan (2002) for cotton and Konak, Çarman,
The one thousand sweet corn seed mass m1000 in-
and Aydın (2002) for chick pea seed.
creased linearly from 131.2 to 145.5 g as the moisture
content increased from 11.54% to 19.74% d.b. (Fig. 2).
3.4. Sphericity
An increase of 10.9% in the one thousand seed mass,
was recorded within the above moisture range. The lin-
The sphericity of sweet corn seed increased from
ear equation for one thousand seed mass can be formu-
0.615 to 0.635 with the increase in moisture content
lated to be:
(Fig. 4). The relationship between sphericity and

70
90

60
80
Projected area, mm2

50
Number of seed

40 70

30
60
20

50
10

0 40
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 8 12 16 20 24
Seed dimension, mm Moisture content, % d.b.

Fig. 1. Frequency distribution curves of seed dimensions at a moisture Fig. 3. Effect of moisture content on projected area.
content of 11.54% d.b.: (d) length; (j) width and (m) thickness.

0.660
160
Thousand seed mass, g

150 0.640
Sphericity. decimal

140
0.620

130

0.600
120

110 0.580
8 12 16 20 24 8 12 16 20 24
Moisture content, % d.b. Moisture content. % d.b.

Fig. 2. Effect of moisture content on thousand seed mass. Fig. 4. Effect of moisture content on sphericity.
526 M.B. Cosßkun et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 74 (2006) 523–528

moisture content Mc in % d.b. can be represented by the 1300

following equation:
1250
/ ¼ 0.5883 þ 0.0022M c ðR2 ¼ 0.8569Þ ð7Þ

True density, kgm-3

Similar trends have been reported by Aydin, Öğüt, and 1200
Konak (2002) for Turkish Mahaleb, Sacilik et al. (2003)
for hemp seed and Sahoo and Srivastava (2002) for okra 1150
seed.
1100
3.5. Bulk density
1050
8 12 16 20 24
The values of the bulk density for different moisture
Moisture content, % d.b.
levels varied from 482.1 to 474.3 kg m
3 (Fig. 5). The
bulk density of seed was found to bear the following Fig. 6. Effect of moisture content on true density.
relationship with moisture content:
qb ¼ 492.62
0894M c ðR2 ¼ 0.9698Þ ð8Þ 66

A similar decreasing trend in bulk density has been re-

ported by Sahoo and Srivastava (2002) for okra, Konak 62
et al. (2002) for chick pea and Gupta and Das (1997) for

Porosity, %
sunflower seed.
58

3.6. True density

54
The true density varied from 1133.8 to 1225.5 kg m
3
when the moisture level increased from 11.54% to
19.74% d.b. (Fig. 6). The true density and the moisture 50
8 12 16 20 24
content of seed can be correlated as follows: Moisture content, % d.b.

qt ¼ 1008.5 þ 10.919 M c ðR2 of 0.9973Þ ð9Þ Fig. 7. Effect of moisture content on porosity.

The results were similar to those reported by Özarslan

(2002) for cotton and Singh and Goswami (1996) for P f ¼ 52.291 þ 0.4524M c ðR2 ¼ 0.996Þ ð10Þ
cumin seed.
Konak et al. (2002), Öğüt (1998), Gupta and Das (1997)
and Yalçın and Özarslan (2004) reported similar trends
3.7. Porosity
in the case of chick pea, white lupin, sunflower and
vetch, respectively.
The porosity of sweet corn seed increased from
57.48% to 61.30% with the increase in moisture content
3.8. Terminal velocity
from 11.54% to 19.74% d.b. (Fig. 7). The relationship
between porosity and moisture content can be repre-
The experimental results for the terminal velocity of
sented by the following equation:
sweet corn seed at various moisture levels are shown

520 6.2

6
Terminal velocity. m s-1
Bulk density, kgm-3

500
5.8

480 5.6

5.4
460
5.2

440 5
8 12 16 20 24 8 12 16 20 24
Moisture content, % d.b. Moisture content. % d.b.

Fig. 5. Effect of moisture content on bulk density. Fig. 8. Effect of moisture content on terminal velocity.
 M.B. Cosßkun et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 74 (2006) 523–528
in Fig. 8. The terminal velocity was found to increase
linearly from 5.56 to 5.79 m s
1 as the moisture content
increased from 11.54% to 19.74% d.b. The relationship
between terminal velocity and moisture content can be
represented by the following equation:
V t ¼ 5.239 þ 0.0263M c ðR2 ¼ 0.9203Þ
Similar results were reported by Gupta and Das (1997),
Suthar and Das (1996), and Joshi et al. (1993) in the case
of sunflower, karingda and pumpkin seeds, respectively.
3.9. Static coefficient of friction
The static coefficient of friction of sweet corn seed on
four surfaces (rubber, aluminium, stainless steel and gal-
vanised iron) against moisture content in the range
11.54% to 19.74% d.b. are presented in Fig. 9. It was ob-
served that the static coefficient of friction increased
with increase in moisture content for all the surfaces.
This is due to the increased adhesion between the seed
and the material surfaces at higher moisture values. In-
creases of 22.89%, 37.38%, 50.19% and 31.04% were re-
corded in the case of rubber, aluminium, stainless steel
and galvanised iron, respectively, as the moisture con-
tent increased from 11.54% to 19.74% d.b. At all mois-
ture contents, the least static coefficient of friction was
on stainless steel. This may be owing to smoother and
more polished surface of the stainless steel sheet than
the other materials used. The relationships between sta-
tic coefficients of friction and moisture content on
rubber lru, aluminium lal, stainless steel lss and galvan-
ised iron lgi, can be represented by the following
equations:
lru ¼ 0.2812 þ 0.0103M c ðR2 of 0.9594Þ
lal ¼ 0.1428 þ 00155M c ðR2 of 0.9844Þ
0.55
0.50
Coefficient of friction
0.45
0.40
0.35
0.30
0.25
0.20
8 12 16 20
Moisture content. % d.b.
Fig. 9. Effect of moisture content on static coefficient of friction: (m)
rubber; (d) aluminium; (s) galvanized iron and (h) stainless steel.
527
lss ¼ 0.0627 þ 0.0166M c ðR2 of 0.9439Þ ð14Þ
lgi ¼ 01823 þ 0.0148M c ðR2 of 0.9398Þ ð15Þ
Similar results were found by Sahoo and Srivastava
(2002), Özarslan (2002), Çarman (1996) and Shepherd
ð11Þ and Bhardwaj (1986) for okra, cotton, lentil and pigeon
pea seeds, respectively.
4. Summary
(1) The thousand seed mass increased from 131.2 to
145.5 g and the sphericity increased from 0.615
to 0.635 with the increase in moisture content from
11.54 to 19.74% d.b. The projected area increased
from 59.72 to 75.57 mm2 and the porosity
increased from 57.48% to 61.30%. The bulk den-
sity decreased linearly from 482.1 to 474.3 kg m
3,
whereas the true density increased from 1133.8 to
1225.5 kg m
3.
(2) The terminal velocity increased from 5.56 to
5.79 m s
1. The static coefficient of friction
increased for all four surfaces, namely, rubber
(0.402–0.494), aluminium (0.321–0.441), stainless
steel (0.267–0.401) and galvanised iron (0.364–
0.477).
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