More Effective and Efficient Method to Measure Moisture Content of Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis L. Jacq) Seeds

Abstract

The gravimetric oven method in determining oil palm seeds' moisture content (MC) requires a long time (48 hours of heating). It is destructive, causing the test seeds not to be utilized, so determining the oven time using the gravimetric method and using a more practical MC measuring device is necessary. This study aims to find an adequate time for MC determination using the oven gravimetry method and to find a more practical method as an alternative to oven gravimetry. The research was conducted at the Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute (IOPRI) Marihat Unit, North Sumatra, in May 2023 using oil palm seeds of the DxP PPKS 540 variety. The experimental design used was a completely randomized design with 14 levels (GMM P1 - P8, MT P10, MT P13, MT P14, MT P19, oven gravimetry with broken seeds, and oven gravimetry with intact seeds as control), each repeated six times. The experiment results showed that the efficient time for determining the KA of oil palm seeds by the gravimetric method was 22 hours, much faster than the 48 hours that oil palm seed producers usually apply. In addition, MT P10 and MT P19 have the potential to be an alternative in measuring KA quickly and practically. Further research is recommended to increase the number of measurements at various levels of seed KA in order to produce a seed KA measurement model using a moisture tester (MT) to replace oven gravimetry, which takes a longer time.