Effect of pod size on physical properties of cocoa pods (Theobroma cacao L.) with reference to farm level mechanization of cocoa processing

Abstract

Physical properties of cocoa pods are essential to develop gadgets to mechanize farm level processing. The various physical properties of cocoa pods, viz.,size, mass, sphericity, aspect ratio, volume, bulk density, true density, porosity, surface area, radius of curvature, friction coefficient, angle of repose, rolling angle and rolling friction were determined. The average length and breadth of the cocoa pods were 147.50±13.9 and 74.19±13.0 mm, respectively. Based on the length, the pods were categorized as small, medium and large size,as less than 120 mm, 120 to 140 mm and above 140 mm. Thickness of husk at the ridge and furrow varied as 4 to 21 mm and 3 to 17 mm and increased with increase in pod length. Average mass of the pod and bean in the pod were 327.45±67.6 g and 84.22±14.9 g, respectively. The sphericity and aspect ratio ranged 0.54 to 0.68 and 0.4 to 0.57. The true volume, bulk density and true density for cocoa pods ranged 308.92 to 590.52 cm3, 398.10 to 339.03 kg.m-3and 589.10 to 661.04 kg.m-3, respectively. The surface area and radius of curvature along major axis ranged from 243.15 to 356.31 cm2 and 72.83 to143.48 mm, respectively.