Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 21 ISSUE 3
Written by Tarek FOUDA, Mohamed ELKHOLY, Adel Helal ELMETWALLI, Dalia SALEH

Experiments were carried out through summer season 2019 in the Rice Mechanization centre at Meet El-Deeba, Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate to study the effect of infra-red radiation and ultraviolet radiation on protein, trypsin inhibitor and total microbial count of cowpea seeds as pre- conditioning methods prior to storage process. Five exposure times of (3-6-9-12-15 min) and five irradiation intensity (804.255, 882.67, 964.74, 1,050.45, 1,139.8 W/m2) were used for infra-red treatments. For ultraviolet treatment four exposure times (10-20-30-40min) and three irradiation intensity (7.077 – 3.538 – 2.359 mW/cm2) were used. For the IR conditioning method, irradiation intensity of 882.67 W/m2 at exposure time of 15 min is recommended. This level of radiation intensity and exposure time, showed total microbial count of 2.3 Log CFU/g., protein content 28.88 %, trypsin inhibitor 1.148 TIU/mg and moisture content 8.13 % of cowpea seeds. Meanwhile the irradiation intensity of 3.538 mW/cm2 at exposure time of 40 mins is recommended for UVC irradiation pre-treatment to get total microbial count 2 Log CFU/g., protein content 28.15%, trypsin inhibitor 0.57 TIU/mg and moisture content 10.95%.

[Read full article] [Citation]

SPUPOPUPNO1