DEHULLING CHARACTERISTICS OF FLAXSEED

The Tangential Abrasive Dehulling Device (TADD) was used to develop a simple dehulling procedure for flaxseed. Analysis of variance showed t hat yield of hull and rate constant were affected mostly by speed and to a lesser extent by dehulling time. Variability in the amount of hul l recovered was mainly due to the interaction effects of speed and tim e The amount of hull recovered increased with decrease in moisture con tent and when moisture-adjusted Seen's were stored for at feast 24 h. The dehuller was successfully applied to flax cultivars varying widely in seed characteristics. For this purpose, flaxseed conditioned to 20 to 35 g/kg moisture and stored for 24 h was dehulled in the TADD at a speed of 2000 rpm for 25 s. The dehulling method clearly discriminate d seven flaxseed cultivars based on the amount of huh recovered. Flax cultivars showed a wide range of hullabilities from 50 to 91%, while t he extraction rate was between 73 and 80%. Yield of hull was the best indicator of kernel hardness in flax,, measured as rate constant. Mult iple-regression analysis showed that seed weight and oil content were the major seed factors responsible for the dehulling quality of flaxse ed.