Journal article
The effect of mechanical dehuskers on the quality of macadamia kernels when dehusking macadamia fruit at differing harvest moisture contents
Scientia Horticulturae, Vol.182, pp.119-123
2015
Abstract
Dehusking to remove the fibrous husk of the macadamia fruit following abscission is an essential first step in postharvest handling of macadamia nuts. Commercial dehusking uses machines, causing trauma for nuts. Mechanical dehusking of macadamia fruit at "field" (mean harvest) moisture content causes shoulder damage but the effect on kernel quality of dehusking fruit that has dried while on the ground between harvest rounds to "low harvest" moisture content is not known. We dehusked macadamia fruit by hand and with two mechanical dehuskers at field moisture content (23%) and at low harvest moisture content (10-12%) after ambient drying for three weeks. After-roast-darkening (dark, reject kernels), shoulder damage and weight of pieces increased while whole kernel was reduced when dehusking at low harvest moisture content compared with dehusking at field moisture content. There were only minor differences between mechanical dehuskers for kernel damage and no difference between dehuskers for dark roasted kernel. Kernel quality of macadamia is more affected by slow, ambient drying than the type of dehusker used. Improving harvest management by reducing time between harvest rounds is more important to macadamia kernel quality than the type of dehusker used.
Details
- Title
- The effect of mechanical dehuskers on the quality of macadamia kernels when dehusking macadamia fruit at differing harvest moisture contents
- Authors
- David Walton (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and EngineeringHelen M Wallace (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
- Publication details
- Scientia Horticulturae, Vol.182, pp.119-123
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Date published
- 2015
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.scienta.2014.10.053
- ISSN
- 0304-4238
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2015. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99448953902621
- Output Type
- Journal article
Metrics
221 File views/ downloads
1150 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Web Of Science research areas
- Horticulture
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Source: InCites