“SEED DRYING”

Prepared by
Dr. Pusarla Susmitha
 CONTENTS
• Seed drying
• Stage of moisture elimination
• Importance of Seed drying
• Equilibrium moisture content
• Drying temperature
• Methods of drying
I. Physical drying (or) natural drying (or) traditional
sun drying
II. Mechanical (or) artificial drying
• Storage structures for Seed drying
• Air-Distribution Systems
• Heated air drying system
• Tempering
• References
 SEED DRYING
• The process of elimination of moisture from
the seed is called Seed drying.

• Seed drying should reduce the seed

moisture content to safe moisture limits to
maintain its viability and vigour during
storage, which may otherwise deteriorate
quickly owing to mold growth, heating and
enhanced microbial activity.
• Seed drying also permits early harvesting,
long term storage of seeds, more efficient
use of land and manpower, the use of
plant stalks as green fodder and
production of high quality seed.
• Depending upon the climate and method
of harvesting adopted, the threshed seed
may or may not be dry enough for safe
storage. Under less favorable conditions,
threshed seed needs further drying.
 Stage of moisture elimination
The moisture from the seed is eliminated in 2 stages
:

1. Surface moisture of the seed that initially

removed by the drying air.’

2. The removal of the moisture in the surface causes

an imbalance in the moisture potential in the
surface of the seed and the inner portion of the
seed which leads to the migration of moisture
from the inner organ to the surface.
• The migration of moisture to the surface is slower
than the evaporation and a moisture gradient is
developed in the kernal.

• Elimination of moisture from the seed depends

upon the relative humidity and temperature of
the environment surrounding the seed. “When
RH of the atmosphere is less than the seed,
moisture is eliminated from the seed.” While
drying, care should be taken to minimize /prevent
oxidation and decomposition and volatilization. In
this process there will be loss of dry weight of
seed which is widened when the processes take
place at high temperature. Hence, high
moisture seeds should be dried at low
temperature.
 Importance of Seed drying
Due to improper drying and storage conditions,
seeds suffer from major retarding effects.
These are:
• loss of viability
• discoloration
• toxin production
• growth of fungus.
Therefore, seed conservation
through efficient processing and storage becomes
factor of prime importance. Proper drying limits
the subsequent rate of seed deterioration during
long term storage.
 Equilibrium moisture content

• A seed is in equilibrium with the

environment when the rate of moisture
loss from the seed to the surrounding
atmosphere is equal to the rate of
moisture gained by the seed from the
atmosphere.
 Drying temperature

Greater the seed moisture content lesser

should be the drying temperature and
vice versa.
• 10% MC and below= 110 o F (43.3o C)
• 10-18 % MC =100 o F (42.2 o C)
• 18-30 % MC= 90 o F (32.2 o F)
The rate of drying depends on:
 Initial seed moisture content
 Size of the bin and capacity
 Depth of spread of seed
 The rate of air blow
 Atmosphere air temperature and relative
humidity
 Static pressure
 Drying temperature
 Methods of drying
I. Physical drying (or) natural
drying (or) traditional sun drying

II. Mechanical (or) artificial drying

a) Drying with forced natural air
b) Drying with forced artificially heated
air
c) Drying with desiccants
d) Drying with infrared rays
 I. Physical drying / Natural drying /
Traditional Sun drying
• Drying of the harvested crop is carried out in the field or
threshing
floor by the radiant energy of the sun.
• This does not involve any expenditure.
• To achieve uniform drying, the seed should be spread in thin
layer.
• High moisture content seed with a moisture content of more
than 17% should be dried first under shade / light to reduce
the moisture content less than 17% and then dried under
heavy sun i.e. noon drying.
• Sun dried seeds should not be allowed to remain open in the
floor during night, since seed will absorb moisture from air.
• 2-4 days are needed to reduce the moisture content to 10-
12%.
Advantages
1. Easy and cheap
2. Does not require any expenditure or fuel.

Disadvantages
1. The rate of drying is slow
2. Loss due to attack by insects, birds and animals
3. Large floor area is required
4. Involves extra labour for collecting and exposing during the
day
5. Sun drying cause sun checks or hot spots due to variation
in temperature from time to time. This checks or spots
induce high amount of breakage while processing
6. mechanical admixtures are possible
7. Dust, dirt and other foreign materials get admixed
8. High weather risks and damage by heavy wind and rains
 II. Mechanical drying or artificial drying
Forced air drying
• In forced air drying, natural air or air
supplemented with heat is blown through a layer
of seed until drying is completed.
• Generally ordinary seed godowns are provided
with two types of ventilators for free movement
of air circulation.
• In modern godowns, provisions are to be made
for forcible circulation of air with the help of an
electronic blower.
• The outside air which is comparatively dry is
circulated in the godown and thereby the seed
get dried up in this process. This is possible only
in dry months.
 Two types of driers are used: batch
and continuous flow driers.
a) Batch dryers
• Relatively dry air is blown through a layer of seed until the
seed is dried completely, after which it is removed and
replaced by another batch of seed.
• Method is suited to small quantities of seed, allows easy
cleaning and is recommended for farm drying.
TYPES OF BATCH DRYERS
• Horizontal drier, the seed is contained in a box or chamber
with a perforated floor through which the air is blown. Air
ducts can be installed in a barn floor and the seed to be
dried piled over them.
• In horizontal batch drier, the seed at the bottom dries first, with
the dry zone extending gradually upward. The drying of the
uppermost seed may be delayed unduly if the seed layer is
too thick or the airflow is inadequate.
• The seed layer should not exceed a depth of 3m and
for high moisture forage seed, it should be reduced to
• Modified sack drier, seed contained in a
woven sack is placed on a grid through
which air is blown. A cylindrical storage bin
with raised perforated floor arranged to blow
air underneath the floor can also be used.

• Vertical batch drier, consists of two

concentric perforated cylinders. The space
between the two cylinders is filled with seed
and air is blown into the inner cylinder from
where it passes outward the seed. The size
of the batch determines the drying rate.
• If the seed is dried in a storage bin, a layer of
undried seed can be added on top of the dried
batch and drying continued, but only if the seed
is already fairly dry and air is not too hot.

• Seed loss also can be avoided by drying in

two stages:- After the first batch has partially
dried, the emerging air is passed through a
second batch held in another chamber,
repeating the process with second batch and
so on.
• The air blown through a batch dryer must not be
too hot, because the seed at the bottom may be
overheated by direct exposure to the entering hot
air. It is often not necessary to heat the air at all,
and heating to less than 10 degree above the
ambient temperature can be very effective, but
on a hot humid day in the tropics even a few
degrees above ambient temperature can harm
the seeds. Dehumidifiers may need to be used
under these circumstances.

• An appropriate drying rate is very important. Too

rapid drying may harm the seed because of the
high drying temperature or a quick loss of water
from the seed. Slow drying may mean
maintaining a high moisture seed at a higher
temperature for a prolonged time, resulting in
deterioration of seed.
 Some variations of batch drying with heated air
include wagon drying, bag drying and box drying.

• In wagon drying, the seed is loaded directly onto a

wagon especially constructed for drying. The wagon is
then drawn to the drier unit and connected with a
canvas distribution duct. Forcing the air up through the
perforations in the wagon floor dries the seed. After
drying, the
wagon is disconnected from
the canvas duct and the seed
is cooled with a fan towed to
the storage bins. Wagon
drying provides continuous
drying, versatality, easy
cleaning and low initial cost.
• Bag drying is another suitable variation to handle
several varieties of smaller quantities of
seed simultaneously. Seed
received in jute bags is exposed to
airflow with minimum static
pressure, because the drying bed
is only one sack deep.
Typical design criteria provide 25 - 40m3
of air/min/m3 seed at a static pressure of 3cm less.
The construction is simple and inexpensive.

• A box drier is modified bag drier well adopted to dry

smaller quantities of basic or foundation seed. With
box driers, it is possible to maintain the identity of
small seed lots despite handling. The boxes can be
constructed of locally available materials, which are
fitted with perforated metal or woven wire bottoms.
2) Continuous flow dryer
In this type of drier, the seed moves horizontally
or vertically through a stream of hot air and
then into a cooling chamber. These driers are
however difficult to clean when there is a
change of cultivar. These driers can use air
temperature higher than those of batch dries,
because the seed is heated for a much shorter
[Link] are further two types of continuous
flow dryers:-
i) L.S.U. dryers (Louisiana State University
dryers)
ii) Non mixing column dryer
 i) L.S.U. dryers (Louisiana State University dryers)
 Continuous column heated air drier largely used for
paddy.
 The paddy seeds are fed from the top with the help of
gravity force in zig zag manner and heated air is blown
from the bottom usually at right angles to the direction of
seed motion.
 The falling seeds get dried up by the heated air and this
process is repeated till to get a reduction of moisture
content to the expected level.

ii) Non mixing column dryer

 Consist of a tall vertical column through which paddy
flows by gravity.
 No provision is made for agitating the paddy as it flows
and hence there is no attempt to drive the paddy from
a straight path.
 Paddy descends gradually between two parallel
screens and heated air is forced through the screens.
 Advantages over bin dryers

1. Short drying period

[Link] damages or spoilage during
wet weather
3. Drying is more uniform.
 Advantages of mechanical drying

1. Quick method, timely and uniform

drying is possible
2. Makes early harvest possible
3. It reduces the chances of losses due to
over ripening and shattering of seed
4. Losses due to rodents and birds are
prevented.
5. Less damage during processing operation.
6. Permits long time storage by preventing
sun checks and other damages.
 Disadvantages

1. Initial cost of drying the equipment is

high
2. Fuel is expensive
3. It produces possible fire hazards
4. Considerable supervision is necessary.
Storage structures for Seed drying
 May be made of steel, wood, plywood or concrete and they may
be
cylindrical or rectangular in shape.

Regardless of the type of structure, all storage bins used for

forced air drying in storage of seeds must have the
following features:

1. Small grain seeds in bulk exert large pressures against the

sidewalls. The side pressures are converted to a vertical load
on the foundation, which should be strong enough to hold the
seed lots.

2. The roof and walls of bins must be airtight for drying to

proceed satisfactorily.

3. The openings for filling and removal of seed should be

large and convenient to use. A full size entrance door is
desirable.
4. A hand space about 1 m should be provided for easy
inspection of seed. Cleaning and spraying operations
should be convenient. For fumigation, the structures
should be airtight, with a provision for temporary
sealing of all openings.

5. The structure should be able to dry and store more

than one kind of seed.

6. The drying air should be uniformly distributed

through all portions of the seed lot for efficient
drying.

7. The flow of air leaving the seed should proceed

rapidly so that back pressures do not hinder the flow
of drying into the seed.
 Air-Distribution Systems
Three types of air-distribution systems used for seed
drying.
a) The main and lateral duct system
b) A single central perforated duct and
c) The perforated false floor system.

Multiple bin storage structures for drying can be built

so that they are arranged to enable the drying of
several seed lots simultaneously using the same
drying fans.
Alternatively, different seed lots can be dried
successively with sliding air gates controlling the
flow of air to the respective bins. A multiple bin
arrangement is particularly useful to dry more than
one kind of seed simultaneously.
 Heated air drying system
Heated air driers consists of :

(a) a heater unit where fuel is burned and

(b) a fan to force the heated air through a canvas connecting

duct into the air distribution system of the drying bin.
Safety features such as automatic thermostatic high limit
temperature control, which cuts off the burner flame if the air
temperature exceeds a certain safe maximum and flame
failure control, which automatically cuts off fuel flow to the
burner if the flame goes out are provided.
A thermostat can also automatically maintain the air
temperature at a desired setting. In many driers, such
thermostats are provided as a standard feature.
 “Direct fired and indirect fired.”

• In a direct fired drier, the fuel is burned and the hot

combustion gases are thrown directly into the air
distribution system. Although the heat is used very
efficiently, there is possibility of blowing soot, unburned
fuel and objectionable fumes into the seed. The burner,
therefore, needs to be adjusted properly to burn the fuel
completely. With certain fuels, there is also a danger of
blowing small sparks into the seed.
• In indirect fired driers, the hot combustion gases
pass into a chamber. The drying air circulates
around this chamber and picks up heat as in a
hot air furnace. The drying air thus does not
include combustion gases, sparks, soot or
fumes. These driers are less efficient in the use
of heat, but are safer than direct fired types

• NOTE:The driers are designed to burn various

types of fuels. Both liquid propane and natural gas
burn readily with minimum soot and are the best
fuels for direct driers and kerosene oil is better for
indirect fired driers.
 Tempering
• Seed is usually dried in stages with heated air. Each
stage consisting of a pass through the drier.
Between passes the seed is stored in bins for an
equilibrium period known as tempering period. This
period of tempering shortens the total drying time.
• During drying, surface moisture is removed and
internal moisture moves towards the surface are
slower than evaporation, and a moisture gradient
develops in the kernel.
• The outside becomes drier than the inside and
evaporation rate decreased. During tempering
moisture concentration equalizes in the kernel and
then evaporation of surface moisture is nearly as
rapid as at the start of drying.
 Conclusion
• The process of elimination of moisture from the seed is called
Seed
drying.
• Elimination of moisture from the seed depends upon the
relative humidity and temperature of the environment
surrounding the seed.
• The rate of drying depends on:Initial seed moisture
content,Size of the bin and capacity,Depth of spread of
seed,The rate of air blow,Atmosphere air temperature and
relative humidity,Static pressure,Drying temperature,etc.
• Then there are 2 types of dryings: physical drying and
mechanical drying.
• Seed is usually dried in stages with heated air. Each stage
consisting of a pass through the drier. Between passes the
seed is stored in bins for an equilibrium period known as
tempering period. This period of tempering shortens the total
drying time.
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