COMPRESSION DAMAGE THRESHOLD OF YOUNG COCONUT (Cocos nucifera L.) AT TWO MATURITY STAGES

Information on the damage incidence of young coconut was generated by establishing the threshold values due to compression. Factors influencing damage and deformation under dead load were evaluated. It was found that maturity, time of load application and load significantly affected bruise area and deformation of young coconut. Larger bruise area was noted for 6-7 month old (Mat1) nuts as compared with 7-8 month old (Mat2) nuts. On the contrary, Mat2 had significantly higher deformation than Mat1. It was found that Mat1 nut was firmer and stiffer than Mat2 nuts. Fruits at both maturity levels can only resist 75- kilograms dead load at 3 hours loading without significantly causing any detectable damage over the fruit's surfaces. Generally, increase in the magnitude of bruise area and deformation was associated with the increase in load and time of load application. Correlation analysis revealed that bruise area and deformation were significantly correlated with load. Some positive correlations were also found to exist between bruise and time of loading. Prediction models were developed and validated for compression relating magnitude of bruise and deformation on different parameters in the study.