ศูนย์นวัตกรรมเทคโนโลยีหลังการเก็บเกี่ยว

Physical characteristics of North American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) root.

Sokhansanj, S.; Bailey, W. G.; Guo, Y. P.; Dalfsen, K. B. van; Oliver, A. L.;

Canadian Agricultural Engineering Year: 1999 Vol: 41 Issue: 4 Pages: 239-246 Ref: 17 ref.

1999

บทคัดย่อ

North American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) is an important export crop for Canada and the USA. The plant root is highly valued in traditional Chinese medicine. Although the crop is cultivated and processed extensively, data on physical characteristics useful for design of postharvest systems are scarce. Research was initiated to examine commercially grown ginseng roots from several gardens in British Columbia, Canada. The roots were classified into 3 shapes (pencil, chunky, and complex) and subjected to mass, diameter and volume measurements. The roots exhibited wide variations in mass (typical mass average of 20 g, c.v. 60%), dimensions (typical diameter of 17 mm, c.v. 22%) and with the majority having pencil or complex shape. A gamma density function represented root mass and diameter data. A linear relation between the surface area and the mass of the fresh root was developed: S=9.5 W+282 (r2=0.45), where S is the root surface area (mm2) and W is the mass of fresh root (g). The bulk density

, calculated from measured bulk volume and mass of the roots, ranged from 201 to 279 kg/m3. Using the measured bulk density and specific density (about 1000 kg/m3), the porosity of bulk fresh ginseng was estimated at about 0.80.