SEED EXTRACTION IN TOMATO

S.ESWARA REDDY

Tomato is one of the important vegetable crops of India and Andhra Pradesh. It is the leading crop of Chittoor district. It occupies third position after Potato and sweet potato in its importance. Seed can be extracted from the tomato fruit by one of the following three methods : FERMENTATION METHOD ALKALI TREATMENT METHOD QUICKEST METHOD OR ACID TREATMENT METHOD 1. FERMENTATION METHOD: This method is employed when tomato fruits are generally not very big and they possess a large no. of seeds. The fruits selected for seed are completely lost and nothing can be used as food or otherwise. The selected ripe fruits are harvested from the plants and allowed to ripe further for a day or two in a heap or in an earthen pot. They are then crushed well in an earthen pot by hand or by any mechanical method to make a paste. No fruit juice should be allowed to drain out. Now the entire mass is kept in the vat for a day or two to ferment. It may be complete in one or two or more days according to high or low temperature. Profuse foam formation on the top and no adhering of seed to the tomato flesh on stirring the mass vigorously with a wooden stick or hand, indicates that the fermentation is complete. Now the flesh will float on the top, while the seeds will settle down at the bottom of the vat.

Remove all the fermented mass on the top and then decant off gently all the liquid. The seeds resting on the bottom of the vat are collected and washed 8 10 times with clear water and then they are spread in the sun to become dry. When they are perfectly dry in the sun store them in air tight containers in a cool dry place. It is the simplest method and can be adopted by any layman. They should not be left too long, other wise they may germinate in it. ALKALI TREATMENT METHOD: When fruits are big enough but the no. of seeds is small, method is adopted. Cut the selected ripe fruits into halves and then scoop out the slimy mass containing the seeds into an earthen or porcelain vessel with the help of the handle of a stainless steel, tea spoon or wooden stick. The flesh thus separated can be easily used for eating raw or for any other purpose. Treat the slimy mass with an alkali mixture (150 grams of ordinary washing soda is added to 5 liters of boiling water) in equal volumes.) When the alkali mixture is cooled, allow it to stand overnight in an earthen or porcelain vessel. By next day, all the seeds will settle down at the bottom of the container. Decant off the clear liquid at the top. Seeds thus obtained are washed thoroughly with clear water and allowed to dry in the sun and are preserved . QUICKEST METHOD OR ACID TREATMENT METHOD: This method is followed where seed production is done on large scale. It can also be adopted on the home scale. In this method, too, the flesh of the fruit can be saved. Slimy seed mass is separated as mentioned above and kept in an earthen or a porcelain or glass vessel. This is done by treating with commercial hydrochloric acid in the proportion of 30 ml of fluid per 12kg of the material. The seeds are separated from the slimy mass within 15 30 min., if acid is thoroughly mixed. The acidified liquid is then decanted off and the seeds remaining at the bottom are immediately washed well with clear water and allowed to dry in the sun. They are then preserved . In this method the seeds can be extracted and dried on the same day and any discoloration of seeds, resulting from the fermentation process, is entirely eliminated. There is also no possibility of seed germination during this process. TOMATO SEED EXTRACTOR

1. Function 2. Specification (a) Overall dimension (b) Capacity (c) Power required 3. General Information

: To extract seed from tomato fruits : : 500 x 450 x 1000 mm : 180 kg of fruit (1.8 kg of seed) per hour. : 1 hp for electric motor and 0.5 hp for pump : The unit consists of a feed hopper, fruit crushing chamber, seed separation unit, water recycling system and seed collecting trough. In the crushing chamber the tomato fruits are crushed and squeezed by the rotating screw auger. In the seed separation unit, water separates the seed from the flesh and collected in a container placed at the bottom of seed separation unit. The water collected in the trough is recycled by means of a pump. The flesh coming out of the seed separation unit is collected separately.

4. 5.

Cost of the unit : Rs. 15,000 Cost of : Rs. 10 per hour

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operation Salient features

Seed extraction is faster compared to the manual method Contact address :dr_esreddy@yahoo.co.in Feb 2012