Abstract

                                The quality of Moringa oleifera seeds need to be ensured before sowing orusing the seeds for other commercial purposes like oil extraction. In thisstudy, an attempt was made to increase the effciency of a specifc gravityseparator machine to upgrade the quality of moringa seed by suitablychanging the machine settings viz., horizontal height (cm), vertical height(cm), and oscillation speed (rpm) of the deck and air blow rate (m3/hr). Theoptimization of moringa seed quality upgrading specifc gravity machinehas a horizontal height (cm), vertical height (cm), and air blow rate (m3/hr)adjustments of 0, 1.5, and 4.0 respectively at 450 rpm of deck oscillation.Under the above-optimized conditions, seed lot graded into fve categoriesviz., A, B, C, D and E. Germination percentage of three grade viz., C, D, andE have 93.0%, 97.0%, and 96.0% respectively, which was higher than thegermination percentage of ungraded bulk moringa seed lot (91.0%) used inthis experiment. Seed with undesirable size and low in weight got separatedas ‘A’ grade material. The optimization of moringa seed upgarding processshowed the optimal processing conditions for grading the moringa seedbased on physical property of the seed. The optimization of the moringaseed-grading machine would provide necessary information on combinationof seed, operation and design parameters for enhancing seed quality.

Key words : Moringa seed, Germination, Gravity separator, Seed filling, Operation parameters, Design parameters