Study on Physical Properties of Minor Millets

Abstract

Millets are important food in many underdeveloped countries because of their ability to grow under adverse weather conditions like limited rainfall. The aim of the study was to investigate the physical properties of the selected minor millets. The mean thousand seeds weight and seeds volume of millets ranged from 1.70 to 4.60 g and 2.28 to 4.40 ml per 1000 seeds respectively. Among the millets hydration capacity was highest in proso millet (1.13 g) and lowest in little millet (0.26 g) and proso millet (2.40 ml) had highest swelling capacity and lowest was in little millet (0.48 ml). Swelling index was highest in finger millet (0.81) and lowest in little millet (0.20).The specific gravity and bulk density of millets studied ranged from 0.64 to 1.88 and 0.62 to 1.55 g/ml respectively. Results showed that ‘F’ value indicated a significant difference to exist among the selected millets for all the physical characteristics studied (p≤0.05).The information of the present study would be useful foroptimizing milling operations, designing the storage structures and machinery, which will help to avoid the post-harvest and milling losses.