Influence of variety endosperm type and seed moisture content on threshability and mechanical damage of sorghum seeds
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Date
2020Author
Kimaru, S.L.
Ragwa, L. M
Mbuge, D
Fabiola, P.L
Muiru, W.M
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Sorghum is an important cereal crop and it is native in African tropical areas. It is a globally cultivated crop and the fifth
most important cereal after maize, rice, wheat and barley. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of endosperm
type, seed moisture content and threshing methods on percentage threshability and mechanical damage of sorghum seeds. Two
varieties of sorghum (Kari-mtama 1 and Seredo) were grown in two diverse locations, Kiboko and Katumani. Variety Kari-mtama1
has hard (vitreous) endosperm while the other variety Seredo has soft (non-vitreous) endosperm. After harvesting, sorghum
panicles were dried in the sun and oven. The panicles were threshed separately for each drying method at two moisture levels,
namely 18-20% and 13-14%. The three threshing methods used included beating with wooden stick in tied sack, using wooden
mortar and pestle as well as using threshing machine. The results showed that the vitreous endosperm variety had significantly
high percentage threshability and significantly low mechanical damage than non-vitreous endosperm variety under both drying
methods. There was a significant (p≤0.05) increase in threshability and decrease in mechanical damage when the seeds were
threshed at 13-14% moisture content compared to 18-20%. For better seed quality, threshing machine is the best method to be
used to avoid mechanical damage and seed quality deterioration. Drying methods used to dry seed panicles before threshing
had no effects on threshability and mechanical damage. This implies that sorghum panicles can be dried either in the sun or oven
without affecting threshability and mechanical damage at the two moisture levels and by using the three threshing methods.
URI
https://profiles.uonbi.ac.ke/wmmuiru/publications/influence-variety-endosperm-type-and-seed-moisture-content-threshability-and-mehttp://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/155629
Citation
"Influence of variety endosperm type and seed moisture content on threshability and mechanical damage of sorghum seeds." Agricultural Science And Technology. 2020;12(2).Publisher
University of Nairobi
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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