Question

Method of cleaning and separation of pulses post harvesting

Answer 1

The method of cleaning and separation of pulses post harvesting is called milling.

Milling :-

Pulses are mostly consumed in the form of dehusked splits, commonly known as dal. The outer layer of the grain (husk) is attached to the protein and the starch bearing cotyledons of the pulse grains. In some grains like pigeonpea, mungbean and uradbean, this bonding is strong due to the presence of a layer of gum in between the husk and the cotyledons. These pulses are difficult to mill. In other grains like chickpea, pea etc, this bonding is comparatively weaker. Such grains can be milled easily and are categorized as easy-to-mill pulses. This outer husk layer is required to be separated from the cotyledons and subsequently split in two halves before consumed as dal. The process of removing husk from the cotyledons is called dehusking and subsequent splitting of cotyledons, its cleaning, polishing and grading is known as milling. These processes improve product appearance, texture, product quality, palatability and digestibility. 

Answer 2

• There are several methods of cleaning and separation of pulses post harvesting. Some of them are pre drying, threshing, pre cleaning, sorting, processing, et cetera.

• The harvested crops are washed and dried to remove the waste(husk) out of it, then sorting is done to align the good seeds at a place and bad seeds that are not useful for the commercial purposes.