Abstract :
India produced 7,43, 220 tones of areca nut (Areca catechu L.) from 44,5000 ha during the year 2014-15 (APEDA). Areca nut is an important component of the religious, social and cultural celebrations and economic life of people in India. Areca nut is also used in ayurvedic and veterinary medicines. The edible part of arecanut is its kernel. The kernel is well protected inside a fibrous husk. This husk needs to be removed while obtaining the kernel. Being fibrous nature of the husk, it is difficult to de-husk. Hence, it was necessary to find out the force required for pierce the husk. It was observed that the average force required to break wet arecanut (freshly harvested) was 11.20 KN. Whereas the average force required to break dried arecanut was 10.62 KN.
Keyword :
arecanut, force, drying, UTM, Air oven