Journal of Food Engineering 63 (2004) 299–302

www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Some physical properties of fresh okro fruit

O.K. Owolarafe *, H.O. Shotonde
Department of Agricultural Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
Received 6 April 2003; accepted 5 August 2003

Abstract
Physical properties often required for the designing of an okro slicer, chopper and or grater were determined for okro fruit at a
moisture content of 11.42% (wet basis). The average fruit length, width and thickness were 54.60, 28.60 and 26.70 mm, respectively;
while sphericity and aspect ratio were 64.00% and 53.31%, respectively. True density, bulk density and porosity were 743.6 kg/m3 ,
450.42 kg/m3 and 39.43%, respectively. On three different surfaces, static coefficient of friction varies from 0.665 to 0.694% while the
angle of repose on the same materials varies from 33.63
to 34.74
.
 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Fresh okro; Physical properties; Processing machine design

1. Introduction reference, 2003). Dried okro is sometimes processed into

Okro (Abelmoschus esculentus), referred to as Ôladies
finger’ (IPM Project, 1990), is a warm season crop that
belongs to the cotton (mallow) family and should not be
planted until the soil has thoroughly warmed (Schweers
& Sims, 1976). The plant continues to produce so long
as pods are removed. When the plant was healthy and
actively growing, 5-in pods are usually tender and ac-
ceptable (Lorenz & Maynard, 1998). Okra pods are
tender and not fibrous and have a typical bright green
color (Boelje & Eidman, 1984). Okro is commonly
processed into soup and stew but in addition can be used
in processing of other food items such as candies and in
salad dressing and cheese spreads.
Aside from the above food uses, the tree and pods
have a number of additional economics benefits. The
tree can be used to make rope and paper while the pod
(fruits) can be used as extract for fat substitute in
brownies. The leaves are said to make an excellent
emoltient cataplasm. Okro generally is used as nutri-
tional supplements for vitamin C and A, B complex,
iron, calcium etc. (Adebooye & Oputa, 1996; Food
*
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: oowolara@oauife.edu.ng, owolarafe@yahoo.
com (O.K. Owolarafe).
0260-8774/$ - see front matter  2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2003.08.002
soup. The process involves slicing, drying and grinding.
The resulting material is then mixed with other ingre-
dients to make soup (Kalra & Pruthi, 1984).
Okro is grown in large quantities in different parts of
Nigeria and other West African countries. There is
usually a lot of losses incurred during the peak season.
Most of the processing methods employed are still
traditional. There is the need to develop appropriate
technologies for its processing. The development of the
technologies will require the properties of this fruit.
This study is done to determine the physical properties
of the fruit such as size, shape, mass, density charac-
teristics, coefficient of static friction and dynamic angle
of repose.
2. Material and methodology
Okro fruits were collected from a farm within the
metropolis of Ile-Ife in Nigeria. Approximately 100 kg
of the fruit was collected for the experiment. This was
divided into smaller samples and stored in a refrigerator.
The quantity to be used in a day is removed from the
refrigerator and kept under ambient room conditions
(28–34
C, 80–90% RH). The last sample used for the
experiment stayed in the refrigerator for maximum of
three (3) days.
300 O.K. Owolarafe, H.O. Shotonde / Journal of Food Engineering 63 (2004) 299–302
Nomenclature
a length of fruit (mm)
b breadth of fruit (mm)
c thickness of fruit (mm)
Ra aspect ratio (%)
3. Moisture content determination
The sample was prepared for analysis by chopping
the fruit. The chopped fruit was weighed and dried in an
oven at a temperature about 80
C overnight (for about
20 h). Weight loss on drying to a final constant weight
was recorded as moisture content (AOAC, 1984).
4. Physical characteristics
From the samples, 100 fruits were selected at random
for determining the physical characteristics, hence,
measurement of all size and shape indices as well as the
seed mass were replicated one hundred times. The fruit
size in terms of the three linear dimensions, that is length
(a), breadth (b), and thickness (c) were measured re-
spectively using a vernier calliper (Kanon Instrument,
Japan) reading to 0.01 mm.
The fruit shape was expressed in terms of its sphe-
ricity and aspect ratio. The sphericity index was calcu-
lated based on the recommendation of Mohsenin (1978)
as
ðabcÞ1=3
Sp ¼  100%:
a
The aspect ratio (Ra ) was calculated as recommended by
Maduako and Faborode (1990) as
b a conical heap is formed. The angle of repose was cal-
Ra ¼  100%:
a culated from the height and base of the heap formed
The mass of individual fruit was determined by using a
Mettler Toledo PB 153 electronic balance (Mettler To-
ledo GmbH, Greifensee, Switzerland) to an accuracy of
0.00l g.
True density of the fruit was determined by the water
displacement method/technique (Dutta, Nema, & Bhard-
way, 1988). Randomly selected fruits were weighed
and coated with paint and allowed to dry in order to
prevent liquid absorption. The fruits were lowered with
a metal sponge sinker into a measuring cylinder con-
taining 500 ml of distilled water such that the fruit did
not float during immersion in water, weight of water
displaced by the fruit was recorded. This technique
was found to be suitable as the increase in fruit mass due
P porosity
Pt true density
Pb bulk density
Sp sphericity index (%)
to coating was about 2% causing a negligible error in
determination.
The bulk density was determined using the mass
volume relationship (Fraser, Verma, & Muir, 1978) by
filling an empty plastic container of predetermined vol-
ume and weight. The fruits were poured from a constant
height, striking off the top level and weighing. The
density ratio is the ratio of mass density to bulk density
expressed as percentage while porosity (P ) was com-
puted (Jain & Bal, 1997) as
Pt  Pb  100%
P¼ : ð3Þ
Pt
Reported values of all density characteristics are means
of 10 replications.
The coefficient of static friction of the fruit was found
with respect to three structural materials namely un-
sanded plywood, galvanized steel sheet and mild steel
sheet, using the inclined plane apparatus as described by
Dutta et al. (1988). The table was gently raised and the
angle of inclination to the horizontal at which the
sample started sliding was read off the protractor at-
tached to the apparatus. The tangent of the angle was
reported as the coefficient of friction (Dutta et al., 1988).
ð1Þ The angle of repose was determined on the three
surfaces by filling a 450 · 300 · 400 mm paper carton
with the fruit, and lifting up the carton to a distance of
about 150 mm above the flat surface while opening the
bottom. The gradual lifting of the carton continued until
ð2Þ
(Maduako & Faborode, 1990).
5. Results and discussion
A summary of the results of the determined physical
parameters is shown in Table 1. The average pod/fruit
length, width and thickness were found to be 54.60,
28.60 and 26.7 mm, respectively. The importance of
these and other characteristic axial dimensions in de-
termining aperture size of machines, particularly in
separation of materials have been discussed by Mohse-
nin (1978) and Omobuwajo, Akande, and Sanni (1999).
These dimensions may be useful in estimating the size of
 O.K. Owolarafe, H.O. Shotonde / Journal of Food Engineering 63 (2004) 299–302 301

Table 1
Some properties of okra fruit/pod
Physical property Number of Unit of measurement Mean value Minimum value Maximum value Range
observation
Moisture content (wet basis) 5 % 11.42 10.81 12.40 1.59
Length 100 mm 54.60 41.50 75.50 34.00
Width 100 mm 28.60 21.50 36.00 14.50
Thickness 100 mm 26.70 20.50 35.00 14.50
Sphericity 100 % 64.00 52.53 85.62 33.09
Aspect ratio 100 % 53.31 37.70 79.80 42.10
Fruit mass 100 g 15.00 5.20 22.5 17.30
True density 10 kg/m3 743.60 705.6 784.1 78.5
Bulk density 10 kg/m3 450.42 443.6 470.2 26.6
Density ratio 10 % 61.00 60.00 63.00 3.00
Porosity 10 % 39.43 37.13 40.03 2.90
Coefficient of static friction on
Plywood with pod paralled 25 – 0.694 0.5774 0.8098 0.2324
Galvanized steel sheet 25 – 0.693 0.5774 0.8098 0.2324
Mild sheet 25 – 0.665 0.5774 0.5098 0.2324
Dynamic angle of repose on
Plywood 25 deg 34.76 30 39 9
Galvanized steel sheet 25 deg 34.72 30 39 9
Mild steel sheet 25 deg 33.63 30 39 9

machine components. For example, it may be useful in
estimating the number of fruits to be engaged at a time,
the spacing of slicing discs and number of slices expected
from an average fruit. The major axis has been found to
be useful by indicating the natural rest position of the
material and hence in the application of compressive
force to induce mechanical rupture. As far as okro is
concerned this dimension will be useful in applying
shearing force during slicing.
The pod/fruit sphericity and aspect ratio were found
to be 64.00% and 53.31%, respectively. The high sphe-
ricity of the okra fruit is indicative of the tendency of the
shape towards a sphere.
The average fruit mass was 15 g. The true density,
bulk density and porosity were 743.6 kg/m3 , 450.42 kg/
m3 and 39.43%, respectively. These properties may be
useful in the separation and transportation of the fruit
by hydrodynamic means.
The coefficient of friction (static) of the okro pod was
0.694 on plywood with the pod parallel to the direction
of flow, 0.693 on a galvanized steel sheet and 0.665 on a
mild steel sheet, while dynamic angle of repose on ply-
wood, galvanized steel and mild steel were 34.76
, 34.72

and 33.63
, respectively.
6. Conclusion
Okro fruit is one of the important vegetables partic-
ularly used for preparing soup. In addition, it is an
essential ingredients in the production of some phar-
maceutical products.
Fresh okro fruit needs be grated, sliced or chopped
before it can be further processed to serve the above
purposes. These operations are tedious especially when a
large quantity of the fruit has to be processed hence the
need for machines to perform them. As a first step in the
design of these machines, the properties of the fruit need
be known. This study undertook the determination of
the relevant physical properties of the fruit namely size,
sphericity, aspect ratio, density, bulk density, porosity
and angle of repose. This will facilitate the design of the
machines involved.
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