Failure Behaviour of Okra (cv Kirenf) Pod during Maturation

Abstract

Failure bahaviour (failure force, failure energy, and relative deformation at failure) of Kirenf okra pod at maturation (maturity stages) was investigated, using the Universal Testing Machine in the study. Quasi static compression tests were done upon the okra pods in five maturity stages. Pods were harvested at 10 Days after Peak Flowering (DAP) at the first maturity stage (stage 1), while okra pods harvested at 14 DAP, 18, DAP, 22 DAP and 26 DAP were considered as (stages 2, 3, 4 and 5) respectively. Results obtained from this study showed that maturity stage had significant effect (P ≤0.05) on all the parameters investigated. From the results, the failure force and failure energy increased as the maturation of the okra pods increased from stage 1 to stage 5; whilst the deformation at failure decreased with increased in maturation of the okra pods. The okra pod failure force increased from 35.4 to 124.2 N during the maturity period; while the failure energy increased from 0.056 to 0.313 Nm at the pods matured from stage 1 to stage 5. This research proved the significance of maturity stage of okra during the packaging of okra pods.