MECHNIZATION FOR POST HARVEST OF GROUNDNUT Department of Agricultural Process engineering College of Agril. Engg. & Tecnology J.A.U.

, Junagadh India is one of the major producers and processors of groundnut in the world. In India, groundnut is grown in the state of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Among all these states, Gujarat is one of the important groundnut growing State. The major oilseeds produced in the Gujarat State are rapeseed/mustard, sesamum, linseed and castor in addition to groundnut, which alone is produced over an area of 19.03 lakh hectares. Gujarat contributes approximately 13 per cent of total groundnut produced in India. In Gujarat, groundnut contribution is about 34.58 % of the total area under oilseed crop and 52.35 % to the production. Groundnut is cultivated in Gujarat in the district of Rajkot, Junagadh, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Kutch, Jamnagar and Surendranagar. Groundnut produced in Gujarat is used for seed, for edible purpose and for oil extraction. The Kernel contains 49.53 % oil, which is used either in liquid form or after hydrogenation as an important ingredient of human diet. The groundnut oilcake is a valuable animal feed. The deoiled meal rich in protein is used in various food preparations. Groundnut shell finds ready market as fuel. The shells can also be used in the manufacture of particle boards. The 81 % groundnut produced is crushed for oil and meal. Edible oil is an important source for human consumption. Meal is used for livestock feed. 1 % groundnut in India is exported. The seeds of the groundnut, which are required for sowing is 12 % of total production. In India, 6 % of the production of the groundnut is used directly for food in its primary form. In Gujarat, the major portion of groundnut is crushed and
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the oil is extracted. Due to this the oil crushing industries have developed very rapidly. Post Harvest Practices Important post harvest operations of groundnut are given below. These operations are more or less similar for other oil seeds crops. Harvesting Pod moisture at the time of harvest plays an important role in determining seed viability of groundnut. Higher the pod moisture at harvest greater will be the loss of seed viability. Harvesting consists of two operations, the vines have to be lifted from the soil with pods intact and then the pods have to be separated from the vines. This is done by manual labour or bullock drawn blade harrows or tractor drawn digger. Even under ideal conditions of harvesting about 5-10 % of pods are left in the soil. In certain areas, the vines are uprooted with country plough and the vines and pods are picked by manual labour. The pods left over in the soil are picked by hand. Drying The groundnut pods normally have 40-60 per cent moisture (w.b.) at the time of harvesting. Hence, it becomes imperative to subject them to drying to moisture content of 8 to 9 % for safe storage or marketing. The normal practice adopted by the farmers in the State is to collect the uprooted plants in bunches and leave them in the field by keeping for sun drying for about 10 to 15 days. While drying, the bunches are to be reversed at least once so that; the drying is uniform and faster. The sun drying is continued till pods moisture content reduced to about 8-9 % (w.b.). Few methods for drying in rabi/summer produce are as follows.

Traditional methods followed by farmers. Windrow drying: Plants are left in rows in the field and sun dried Windrow shade drying: The pods are dried in such a way that those in one windrow are covered by haulms of the plants from the adjacent windrow. Shade drying : Plants with pods attached are dried under artificial shade single plant deep. Directorate of Oilseeds Research Method (DOR):In DOR method 2 heaps of 1 m diameter are placed in an inverted manner one over the other in field in such a way that haulms of the upper heap cover the exposed peripheral pods of the lower heap from the direct sunlight. In the evening the upper heap is removed and the pods in both the bundles are exposed and again the heaps are brought back to inverted position in the morning. In the DOR method, night exposure requires the removal of upper heap in the evening and stacking into normal position in the next morning daily for 4-5 days. This drying method is useful because the pods during drying are not exposed to direct sunlight and also do not come in contact with soil. Alternatively the harvested plants tied into small bundles can be dried under shade with pods intact till the pod moisture level comes down to 8-9 %. Then the pods are separated from the plants for storage. Mechanical drying: Drying can be done by unheated and heated air. Solar drying: Drying using solar dryer

Threshing In cases where the land holding is less than one acre, manual threshing is employed by the marginal farmers using sticks and rakes. Whereas, for higher land holdings oil engine or electrical motor operated groundnut threshers are being used. The threshing capacity ranges from about 2000 to 2500 kg of pods/day. The threshers now in use are quite efficient. But during the operation of thresher if the adjustments are not done properly, then losses like incomplete separation of pods, breakage of pods, blowing away of pods along with finer impurities, etc. by a blower, can occur. The best threshing is obtained with minimum losses at 18 to 20 per cent groundnut crop moisture level. Sometimes when the summer groundnut is harvested the untimely rain does not allow the crop to be dried. Under these circumstances, the groundnut pods get germinated
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and the farmers loose their produce. Also the fungal and mold attack deteriorate the quality of groundnut severely. In order to overcome this difficulty some manufacturers at Jasdan, Rajkot district of Gujarat have developed a groundnut thresher which can separate the pods directly from the freshly harvested plants subsequently the pods having high moisture content are dried. The manufacturers are claimed 55-60 % efficiency for their developed thresher. Cleaning The cleaning of threshed groundnut is normally done when there is no blower in the thresher or when the thresher is inefficient to clean the impurities. In general most of the threshers have blowers, which perform the winnowing operation simultaneously and effectively. Grading The grading of groundnut pods is also an important operation as the market price is based on the grade of the groundnut. Except in cases where the groundnut is to be exported where hand picking and selection is done (H.P.S. grade), the grading is effected through groundnut graders which separate the pods on the basis of its physical dimensions. For the grading purposes, manually operated screens as well as electrical motor/oil engine operated mechanical graders are being used. Decortication In order to get good recovery the beater speed, air flow rate, concave clearance, etc. should be adjusted properly. The improved decorticators are incorporated with blowers so that the shell and dust/dirt are blown away and cleaned kernels can be obtained.
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The groundnut shellers can be classified as (1) Manually operated and (2) Power operated depending on their power source. Manually operated groundnut shellers It mainly consists of a hopper, a wire mesh, shelling bar and reciprocating arm. The hopper is a semi-cylindrical through. The wire mesh is attached to the bottom of the hopper. The shelling bar is attached to the lower end of the reciprocating arm. It can be activated from the center within the hopper. Hand or pedal operated groundnut decorticators are available having the capacity to decorticate 30 to 45 kg pods per hour which meets the need of small farmers. The damage of kernel is almost negligible during shelling. The machine has efficiency of 99 % with the broken percentage of 1-3. Power operated groundnut shellers The machine consists of a hopper, double crank lever mechanism, oscillating units and a blower assembly, all fitted to a frame. In the oscillating unit a number of cast iron pegs are fitted. The groundnut pods are shelled between the oscillating unit and a perforated concave sieve. The husk blown away by a blower and clean kernel are collected through a spout at the bottom. The clearance between the oscillating unit and the concave is adjustable. It has capacity of 400 kg/h of pods or 260 kg/h of kernels. The percentage of breakage, threshing efficiency and cleaning efficiency was 4.5 %, 95 % and 98 % respectively. The power consumption of the sheller is about 1.0 to 1.1 kw.

Storage The normal practice adopted by the farmers is to sell the groundnut directly to traders, co-operative society or oil millers after retaining a portion of their total produce for seed purpose and future consumption. There are three levels of storage, i.e., farmers, traders and oil millers. The storage period ranges from 2 to 10 months or more. The groundnuts are mostly stored in the form of unshelled nuts (pods) in a variety of containers ranging from traditional storage structures (gunny bags, bamboo bins, metal or mud bins, earthen pots) to large scale metal or concrete silos. The normal practice adopted by the farmers of this region is to heap the groundnut pods in a separate room, store in gunny bags or in mud or metal bins. The percent loss at farmers level by bruchid is given in Table 3.2. The traders and oil millers store the groundnut pods in gunny bags stacked one over the other. The losses during storage is maximum if the care is not taken to protect it from insects, fungus, rodents, humidity and other environmental stresses. The nature of storage losses includes loss in quantity, nutrients and sensory properties. The magnitude of such losses depends on the prestorage quality of the produce (moisture content, physical damage to pods, loose shelled kernels, degree of maturity, amount of foreign material including initial pest or microbial load), type of storage structure used, storage conditions (temperature, relative humidity), and access to animals. Besides quantitative loss in weight, peanut may undergo spoilage due to discoloration, absorption of foreign odours, staleness and rancidity. The qualitative losses include the losses in the nutritional quality and sensory properties. The extent

of losses depends upon the moisture content, relative humidity, temperature, mechanical damage, kernel or pod condition and length of storage. After drying to a safe moisture level, if the produce is stored for seed purpose, it is always recommended that seeds of groundnut should be stored in the form of pods. Some thumb rules as summarized below are generally applicable in the case of groundnut also (NRCG, Junagadh). 1. For each 1 % decease in seed moisture content, the storage life of seed is doubled. 2. For each 5-6C decrease in seed storage temperature, the storage life of seed is doubled. 3. The arithmetic sum of the storage temperature in degrees F and the percentage of relative humidity (RH) should not exceed 100, with no more than the half the sum contributed by temperature. Processing of Groundnut Peanuts are processed into a wide variety of edible products. Edible oil, peanut butter, salted peanuts and various confections are the major products. Peanuts are also processed to obtain peanut flour, peanut protein isolates and concentrates, peanut milk, curd, cheese, peanut paste for seasoning vegetables, boiled unshelled fresh peanuts, defatted peanuts, peanut butter ice-cream, peanut butter milk shakes, peanut butter powder, peanut butter sandwiches, and peanut bread. The nonfood items include soaps, cosmetics, medicines, shaving creams, lubricants, and synthetic fibers. Oil extraction Edible oil is the major product produced from the groundnut in the world. About two third of the worlds groundnut production is crushed to obtain the edible oil. Usually, three methods are employed to recover the oil: expeller, hydraulic press and solvent extractor, either separately or in combination and the residual oil in the

cake is about 7, 5 and 1 % respectively. In addition to above, bullock/power operated ghanis are also still in use in our country. But the residual oil in the cake produced from ghanis range between 8 to 15 % depending upon the efficiency of the ghani. Methods of extractions In India, basically three methods of mechanical oil expression are used. These are ghanis, power ghanis and screw pressing. Mechanical screw presses (Oil Expeller)

The screw presses essentially consists of a barrel in which a screw/worm rotates and compress the fed oilseed as it moves forward to exit from a choke controlled opening. The expressed oil escapes through the slits provided along the barrel length. Indigenous mechanical expellers with a capacity range of 0.03 t/h to 2.1 t/h are normally available. The performance of these expellers vary significantly depending upon the operating conditions. The management of expeller operation is mainly done on the basis of the judgment of the operator rather than on any scientific basis. Mechanical expression of oil is achieved through application of pressure on oil seeds. Since the residual oil in the cake is more than 7 %, it is further utilized by solvent extraction units for further recovery of oil and the resultant cake with less than 1 % oil is utilized for animal feed or exported to other countries.

Solvent extraction The most widely accepted and recent method of oil expression is the solvent extraction method. This is a continuous process. This method has proved to be excellent for oil bearing materials which contain low oil content. Utilization of Groundnut Some processed foods Groundnut is constituents of many household preparations. They are used by rural as well as urban populations. Some common preparations are chutneys, dry powders, sweets and as an ingredient of fried rice and even chapaties. The common products are discussed as below : Peanut flour: Processing for large scale peanut flour production consists of five steps viz. moistening peanuts to 12 % moisture, heating to 82.2 C and holding for 30 min at 82.2 C, 12 % m.c. drying at 82.2 C to 6 % m.c. and flaking and removing oil by direct solvent extraction. The product is a white flour, bland and virtually free of raw peanut flavour with 65 % protein. Peanut butter: This is the processed edible product. There are three types: (a) old fashioned butter,(b) smooth butter and (c) chunky butter., mostly varying in particle sizes of the groundnut in butter. The manufacture of butter involves roasting of the kernel to a controlled brownness followed by cooling and removal of skins (blanching). Spoiled and discoloured kernels are removed at this stage. Then grind kernels to a paste or butter according to the product desired. Salt, stabilizers and other optional ingredients like sweeteners are blended with butter prior to cooling and packaging. Groundnut based yogurt: Groundnut milk is prepared from groundnut protein isolate. The process of preparing groundnut yogurt involves pasteurization of groundnut milk containing 5 % lactose, cooling inoculating with yogurt culture, incubating at 37 C for 4 hours and refrigeration. Chocolate flavoured groundnut beverage: Milk like beverages prepared from oilseeds have great potential as nutritional substitute in areas where cow milk is too expensive or indigestible for some

people. An acceptable chocolate flavoured groundnut beverage can be prepared by mixing 3.5 % groundnut protein, 3.5 % fat, 8 % sugar, 0.7 % cocoa powder, 0.1 % stabilizer and remaining water. Boiled nuts: Unshelled immature nuts are boiled in medium brine and eaten fresh or frozen and canned. Roasted groundnuts (in shell): Mature nuts are shocked in brine followed by roasting. Roasted groundnuts: Whole or chopped kernels are roasted and used directly. Use of partly or fully defatted nuts is also getting popular now a days. Peanut candies: More than 50 types of candies are made of groundnut, the most popular ingredients in American candies. Pre-cooked full-fat peanut flakes: Blanched cotyledons (without germs) are dried to 2 to 4 % moisture and are then ground to a fine paste. Water is added while heating and the slurry is dried to get flakes. The flakes have high keeping quality. Flakes find use in formulated food of high fatted protein. Hand picked and selected groundnut (HPS) Hand picked and selected (HPS) groundnut often referred to a table nut. The HPS with extra bold size of kernels are exported to European countries and fetches about three times the price of ordinary groundnut kernels. The HPS groundnuts of exportable quality are mainly produced in Saurashtra region in Gujarat. Rajkot is one of the major trading centre for groundnut seed/ oil in the country. The HPS is prepared by conditioning of pods followed by mechanical decortication and mechanical and manual grading. The manual graded kernels are further mehanical graded to get the appropriate size kernels. These kernels are used in bakery and confectionery industry and also directly for edible purpose as fried and salted nuts.

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