Abstract
The traditional methods of depodding melon pods to extract the edible seeds is a time consuming and tedious process. A melon depodding machine was therefore designed, fabricated and tested for use in Nigeria. The fabricated machine had the following operating units: depodding chamber, power system, feeding hopper, supporting frame, electric motor, gear shaft, discharge unit etc. The average mass of melon pod of 1.671 kg and the average diameter of the melon pod of 139.25 mm were obtained experimentally. From the performance test carried out on the machine, average percentage of depodded seeds of 91.1255%, average percentage of undepodded seeds of 7.2915%, the average percentage of damaged seeds of 1.5835% and the average percentage of useful seeds of 98.4165%. Considering the aforementioned results, the melon depodding machine designed in this study can perform optimally in both domestic and commercial level in Nigeria.
Highlights
The main occupation of residents in rural areas in Nigeria is agriculture [1]
The melon depodding machine is composed of a set of blades arranged in pairs and attached to a circular plate, with a rotating shaft passing through the center of the circular plate in the melon depodding chamber
The melon pods are fed into the machine through the truncated pyramid hopper where they contact with the blades in the depodding chamber and are crushed
Summary
Processing of agricultural products into food items suitable for being consumed for a longer period without spoilage can prolong the useful life of such products and can increase the net profit for farmers [2]. The shelled seeds of egusi are usually coarsely ground and used in preparing soup, stew, and snacks. It is used preparing robo, a defatted fried cake obtained after the oil has been extracted from the melon seed. Melon seeds have found widespread use in the following areas: as a source of food, as a source of medicine in the healthcare industry, used in the skincare industries, and source of feeds for animals and as a source of income to farmers. Studies have shown that melon pods have an almost spheroidal external shape and an ellipsoidal seed cavity, sphericity of 1.03, an average density of 0.87 g/cm, and seed content of 3.5% by weight. [7, 8]
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