TRIALS ON DRYER FUNCTIONALITY IN THE FIRST CONDITIONING OF ‘TONDA GENTILE DELLE LANGHE’

In order to determine the efficiency of hot air dryers, small and movable, and control the influence of this first conditioning treatment on the principal traits of hazelnut, trials were carried out in the years 2004-2005 at the Cooperative plant of Cissone (Cn). Three hot air dryers with similar device composition but with different capacities (increasing from one to three tons) were tested.
For two consecutive harvest seasons, 46 tons of hazelnuts, from 12 different farms of the Langhe area were dried with a single cycle of moisture extraction for a total of 19 cycles.
For each cycle, physic-chemical and commercial parameters were determined before, during and after the moisture extraction, on the hazelnut samples or on their bulk in the silos.
Therefore, initial and final moisture and physical and commercial traits of hazelnuts were determined before and after the moisture extraction, whereas the duration of each phase and the trend of temperature and moisture of the hazelnut bulk were registered during the moisture extraction process.
Physical and chemical (mineral composition and lipid content) traits were determined on hazelnut after moisture extraction.
The preliminary results of these trials indicate the suitability of small dryers in lowering hazelnut moisture, especially the 2-ton drier, while the hazelnut commercial and physical-chemical characteristics are not significantly different using the three types of dryers.

VII International Congress on Hazelnut

V. Ughini, G.L. Malvicini, A. Roversi, C. Sonnati

small hot air dryers, hazelnut quality, ‘Tonda Gentile delle Langhe’

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.845.111