Some Physical Properties of Hog Plum (Spondias mombin) as A Function of Moisture Content

The physical characteristics of hog plum at various moisture content (MC) were investigated. These characteristics are crucial in the design and construction of storage structures and equipment for handling and processing. Additionally, the the static coefficient of friction between the surfaces of plywood, galvanized steel, and glass as structural materials were conducted. The initial MC (wet basis) was determined by oven drying; except for fresh ones, all other samples were then conditioned to five moisture levels (12%, 20%, 28%, 35%, and 43%, with fresh being 78.2% then packed into plastic bags, sealed, refrigerated, till use. The results obtained for major, minor, intermediate, and thousand mass of hog plum were 20.86 mm, 14.46 mm, 13.47 mm, and 985.33 g, respectively, at MC of 20%; corresponding values being 29.26 mm 22.60 mm, 21.44 mm and 16142 g respectively for fresh plum. The geometric mean diameter of the hog plum ranged from 15.56 to 17.70 mm as the MC increased from 12 to 43% and 24.36 mm for the fresh plum. Throughout this moisture range, the sphericity changed marginally, from a value of 0.76 to 0.79 as against 0.83 at harvest; bulk density increased from 342.43 to 461.29 kgm-3. For the three surfaces examined, static coefficient of friction increased with increase in MC, glass (0.42 to 0.53), galvanized steel (0.47 to 0.65) and plywood (0.55 to 0.59) respectively. In conclusion, influence of moisture levels is critical to behavior of hog plum on materials surfaces, used in its handling, processing and storage.