Abstract
Seed moisture content (MC) changes depending upon relative humidity (RH) and temperature (T). This relationship was revealed by studying the interaction of RH and T at equilibrium. Maize, cucumber, onion, lettuce, watermelon, and pea seeds were equilibrated over various saturated salt solutions (1% to 93% RH) at temperatures from 5 to 50 °C. Five-hundred-eleven subset models were selected from a complete third-order model MC = 0 + 1*RH + 2*T + 3*RH2 + 4*T2 + 5*RH*T + 6*RH3 + 7*T3 + 8*RH*T2 + 9*RH2*T using Mallows' minimum Cp as the selection criterion. All six best subset models were found to have the same functional form, MC0 + 1 = *RH + 2*T + *RH2 + 5*RH*T + 6*RH + 9*RH2*T. Coefficients had essentially the same respective values among species, except for the onion and pea models (P ≤ 0.05). All models indicated that seed MC increased as RH increased and decreased as temperature increased. A previous paper (Vertucci and Roos, 1990) indicated that optimum RH for orthodox seed storage is between 19% and 27%. Using these models, the range for the optimum moisture content for storage of most orthodox seeds can be quickly calculated for any given storage temperature.
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