DETERMINATION OF WATER CONTENT IN GRAINS WITH MICROWAVE OVEN

Abstract

The determination of water content is essential for the maintenance of grain quality, and an evaluation of alternative methods for quantification allows to increase the efficiency of the process and bring benefits to the productive sector. The study aimed to analyze the efficiency of using microwave ovens to determine the water content in grains. The work was carried out in a completely randomized design in a 4x6 factorial scheme, with four species (peanut, sunflower, soybean and wheat) and six microwave drying periods (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 minutes), with four replications. Data were subjected to descriptive analysis to characterize the samples, and regression analysis to analyze differences between methods as a function of drying time. The determination of water content in grains, sunflower, soybeans and wheat in a domestic wave oven is feasible when a drying time of 3 minutes is adopted.

Keywords

• Arachis hypogaea
• Helianthus annuus
• Glycine max
• Postharvest
• Zea mays