Lecture 1

Introduction
Agricultural processing may be defined as an activity which is performed to maintain
or improve the quality or to change the form or characteristics of an agricultural product.
Processing operations are undertaken to add value to agricultural materials after
their production.
The main purpose of agricultural processing is to minimize the qualitative and
quantitative deterioration of the material after harvest.
Some of the agricultural processing operations performed on various crops (cereals,
pulses and oilseeds) are cleaning, grading, sorting, drying, cooling, storage, milling, size
reduction, expelling, mixing, blending, packaging, waste utilization, seed treatment etc.

Unit Operations of Grain Processing

A processing job consists of a series of unit operations. The sequence of processing
operations may broadly be classified as
1) Cleaning, grading and sorting
2) Drying and dehydration
3) Storage
4) Milling
5) Handling, packaging and transportation and
6) Agricultural wastes and by products utilization

Apart from the above unit operations many basic information on seeds and products
like their engineering properties, heat transfer, refrigeration, structure and composition of
feed grains are required to evolve or develop appropriate processing procedures for a
particular products. Information on design of fans and blowers is also necessary.

1) Cleaning, grading and sorting

The crops after harvesting and threshing contain organic and inorganic impurities like
straw, chaff, weed seed, iron pieces, stones, mud etc. Grains with impurities fetch lower
price. Presence of foreign matters increases the bulk hence increases the cost of handling
and transportation. Contaminated grains cause high losses during storage. It may cause
wear and tear in processing machines. Hence cleaning of grains and other agricultural
products is very important and should be performed before any further processing
operation.
Grading of cleaned seed is done to obtain good quality seed with higher germination
and viability. Grading of fruits and vegetables is necessary to group them as per various
commercial standards and usage.
2) Drying and dehydration
Grains are generally harvested at higher moisture contents to reduce harvesting
losses. This moisture content is unsafe for storage or milling. Such grains need immediate
treatment to prevent quality deterioration due to mold development. Post harvest
treatments like sealed storage, chemical or thermal treatment, cooling and drying are given
to the grains for their short and long term preservation. Drying of grains is most widely used
method for their preservation.
Following table shows the moisture content of some of the grains for their harvest
and storage. Improper drying causes increase in breakage of maize and soybean and
decrease in milling quality of rice and wheat.
Table 1: moisture content of some of the grains for their harvest and safe storage
Optimum moisture Storage moisture content % w. b.
Crop
content at harvest % w.b. 6-12 months Over 1 year
wheat 16-18 12 10
Paddy 20-22 12 10
maize 20-23 12 10
sorghum 20-22 12 10
soybean -- 10 8
bengalgram -- 10 8
mustard -- 8 6

3) Storage
Bulk of the post harvest losses occur during storage. The storage losses of grains are
due to the insects, fungus, rodents, birds, moisture etc.
 To minimize storage losses knowledge of scientific ways of storage is necessary.
Information on design of modern sealable storage structure is essential. Maintenance of
hygienic conditions during storage is also necessary.
4) Milling
The food grains contain a large centrally located starchy endosperm which is also
rich in protein. These seeds are covered with protective layers of hull and bran. The hull is
coloured and may contain tannins and is largely indigestible. The grains also contain germ
which is high in oil and is enzymatically active and under certain conditions may produce
rancidity in the grain. Therefore the hull and germ are removed in milling operation. The
starchy and proteinous endosperm is obtained by milling and in some cases the endosperm
is further comminuted.
The pulses or food legumes which are rich in protein supply 15 – 30 % of daily
protein to Indian people. Pulses are mostly consumed in the form of dhal. Dehusking and
splitting of pulses are performed in milling operation.
Oil is extracted from the oil bearing materials either by solvent or by mechanical
expeller. Juice from various products is also extracted by milling machines.
5) Handling, packaging and transportation
The performance of any processing activity is considerably affected by the efficiency
of movement of material from one unit operation to another. Optimisation of time and
movement of material in a processing plant are necessary to minimize cost of operation and
maximize profit. Knowledge of correct layout of handling equipment is desirable.
6) Agricultural wastes and by products utilization
About 80% of the total energy consumed in the rural areas falls under cooking of
food. It is also estimated that about 80% of energy required for cooking is obtained mainly
from wood, crop residue and Cowdung. Nearly 50% of the energy used in rural areas can be
saved by using improved cooking stoves and furnaces. Cowdung and other biomass can be
used for generation of bio-gas. Economic utilization of food grain milling by-products can
pave ways for modernization of pulse and rice mills.