Determination of Physical Properties of Some Wheat Grain Varieties

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa's top producer of wheat is Ethiopia. It covers roughly 1.80 million hectares a year, and Ethiopia's central, southeast, and northwest highlands are the primary wheat-growing regions. The physical characteristics of the wheat seed are crucial for maximizing the row seed drill machine's design parameters. Thus, it is crucial to determine and take into account physical attributes like size, sphericity, surface area, bulk density, thousand grain weight, and angle of repose. Determining the physical characteristics of a few dominant wheat varieties was the goal of this experiment. Thus, the physical characteristics of NPS fertilizer and five different types of wheat seeds Hidase, Danda'a, Ogolicho, Kekeba, and Digeluwere ascertained. From the representative samples, 100 seeds and 50 fertilizers were chosen at random to determine the mean sizes of the seeds and fertilizer used in the study. The sphericity of Hidase, Danda’a, Ogolcho, Digelu, Kekeba and Fertilizer were found to be 58.94, 65.11, 63.23, 64.62, 62.58 and 87.07% respectively. Thousand seed weight 32.57, 37.63, 36.95, 30.75, 32.03 and 26.49gm were obtained for Hidase, Danda’a, Ogolcho, Digelu, Kekeba wheat seeds and Fertilizer particles respectively. Average angle of repose of Hidase, Danda’a, Ogolcho, Digelu, Kekeba wheat seeds and Fertilizer particles were recorded as 26.87 o, 26.63 o, 27.45 o, 25.12 o, 24.37 o and 30.96o respectively. The mean bulk density of the respective seed varieties and fertilizer particle were found to be 780.19, 828.58, 833.06, 811.50, 792.89 and 944.66kg/m3 respectively. It was concluded that, physical properties of wheat seeds and fertilizer particles critically affect the design of seed drill machine’s parts. Therefore, all in one approach is impractical, as the mechanical requirements for seeds and fertilizer diverge significantly. Thus, Separate hoppers and metering systems for seeds and fertilizer are desirable to prevent segregation and ensure accurate application rates