Effects of moisture content, loading rate and grain size on some mechanical properties of barley seed

This study was carried out to determine some mechanical properties of barley seed including Deformation, Rapture Force, Rapture Energy and toughness as a function of moisture content (10.5%, 12.5%, 14.5% , 16.5%, db), loading rate (5, 15, 25, 35 mm.min-1) and grain size (small, medium, large). Tests were performed at 7 replications by the means of a factorial base plot experiment. The results showed significant effect of moisture content on all the properties (p>0.01).Also there is significant effect of grain size on rapture force, rapture energy and deformation and significant effect of loading rate on deformation at 1% level of probability. The interaction effect of moisture content- loading rate was significant on deformation and toughness (p>0.01) and on rapture force and rapture energy (p>0.05). The more percentage of moisture content, the more mean amount all the measure properties of barley seed. The mean amounts of rapture force and deformation increased linearly as the moisture content increased.