Effect of Moisture Content on Some Selected Physical Properties of Pigeon Pea (Cajanus cajan )

Knowledge of physical and mechanical properties of pigeon pea grains are necessary for the design of equipments t o handle, transport, process and store the crop. The moisture content of pigeon pea is different at the harvest than at milling or storage; thus aff ecting different physical and mechanical properties of the pigeon pea. The ph ysical properties of pigeon pea i.e. length, width, thickness, bulk dens ity, particle density, porosity, surface area, volume, angle of repose and hardness have been evaluated as a function of grain moisture content v arying from 6.2 to 30.2 % (wb). The length, width, thickness, grain surface area, volume and angle of repose increased non-linearly from 5.37 to 6.24 mm, 4.97 to 5.67 mm, 4.06 to 4.60 mm, 33.73 to 45.22 mm 2 , 322.68 to 556.07 mm 3 , and 22.7° to 50.45°, respectively, while bulk density, particle density, hardness and sphericity decreased nonlinearly from 1032.49 to 83 5.35 kg/m 3 , 1398.09 to 1242.85 kg/m 3 , 484.22 to 10.27 N and 0.89 to 0.87, respectively when moisture content was increased from 6 to 30 % (wb).