Handling, frictional and technological properties of wheat as affected by moisture content and cultivar

In order to optimize the processes such as planting, harvesting, handling, threshing, cleaning, sorting, conveying, drying and storing and to reduce the quantitative and qualitative losses of grains and seeds, their physical properties need to be known. In this research, several physical properties of five wheat cultivars (Pehlivan, Kızıltan-91, Çeşit-1252, Bayraktar-2000 and Kırik) were determined as a function of moisture content. The values of the length, width, thickness, geometric mean diameter, sphericity, projected area, thousand grain mass, terminal velocity, angle of repose and dynamic coefficient of friction of grains increased as the moisture content increased. The values of bulk density, true density and rupture force of grains decreased as the moisture content increased. On the other hand, the values of porosity and deformation at rupture point of grains did not show any regular variation with the moisture content.