Affiliation(s)
1. Department of Postharvest Technology, School of Agricultural Engineering, University of Campinas, Campinas, Sao Paulo 13083-875, Brazil
2. School of Agricultural Engineering, Federal University of Sergipe, São Cristóvão 49100-000, Sergipe, Brazil
3. Department of Farm Machinery, School of Agricultural Engineering, University of Campinas, Campinas 13083-875, Sao Paulo, Brazil
4. Technical Assistance Coordination Integral (CATI), Campinas 13070-178, Sao Paulo, Brazil
ABSTRACT
Handroanthus
heptaphyllus (botany synonymy Tabebuia
heptaphylla) is considered to have very important economical, ornamental and medicinal value. It is included in the Bignoniaceae botanical family, whose multiplication is quite solely carried by seeds. Forest dispersion elements, i.e., the seeds, deserve a deep understanding on their physiological performance. The objective of this research work was to determine the optimum seed moisture content for laser interaction in biospeckle tests, which is based on laser interferometry. Seeds were hydrated
to the level of 69% and then divided into four subsamples, i.e., (1) seeds
without teguments, (2) seeds with tegument, (3) seeds without teguments frozen
at 0 °C and (4) seeds with teguments frozen at 0 °C. The four subsamples were
then separated into five moisture level groups (28%, 35%, 54%, 63% and 69%) and
exposed to the laser. The biospeckle phenomenon quantification was carried out by means of the moment of inertia (MI) approach. A positive correlation between MI and seed moisture content was obtained. It was also verified that seed moisture content between 28% and 54% showed better interaction with the laser. The results are important for the application of the biospeckle technique as a possible tool to assess the quality of purple ipê seeds.
KEYWORDS
Purple ipê (Handroanthus
heptaphyllus), seed moisture content, biospeckle, moment of inertia.
Cite this paper
References