Evaluation of Physical and Compositional Properties of Horse-chestnut (Aesculus indica) Seed

摘要

An investigation was carried out on the physical and compositional properties of Horse Chestnut seeds found in Kashmir valley, India. Physical properties such as seed shape and size, geometric and arithmetic mean diameter, sphericity, aspect ratio, bulk and true density, density ratio, porosity, angle of repose and static friction coefficient were determined. The average seed length, width and thickness were 4.7, 4.0 and 3.2 cm, respectively. Geometric and arithmetic mean diameter was 3.92 and 3.97 cm. Average sphericity and aspect ratio was 83.4 and 85.11%, respectively. The average true density, bulk density, density ratio and porosity of the variety was 1072 g/cm3, 518 g/ cm3, 48.32% and 51.68%, respectively. The mechanical property viz., angle of repose values obtained on plywood, mild steel, stainless steel and galvanized sheet were 22.3°, 20.3°, 18.3° and 22.79° for the seed variety. The coefficient of static friction obtained on plywood, mild steel, stainless steel and galvanized sheet were 0.54, 0.52, 0.51 and 0.52, respectively. The force required to break the seed was 328 N. Color and compositional analysis of the seed powder was conducted. The L, a and b value were found to be 92.07, 3.47 and 13.70 with a whiteness value of 83.78. The powder was having moisture (12.71%), protein (6.78%), fat (3.27%), ash (3.16%), fibre (6.34%) and carbohydrate (67.74%) with energy value of 327.51 cal/100 g.