effect of harvesting, moisture content and drying temperature on canola oil and seed quality

rapeseed is one of the important oilseeds, as its oil ranks second in the world after soybean. the rapeseed cultivation has been increased recently in iran. drying of seeds to a safe moisture level is necessary for storage of oilseeds before processing. rapeseed drying conditions affect the seed quality, total oil and germination capacity. hence in this research the effects of different temperatures and humidity on the pf variety were studied. rapeseed samples with different moisture contents at harvesting time (12, 15 and 20% w/w), were dried under 40, 45 and 50ºc temperatures and the rape kernels were dried under 80, 90 and 120ºc temperatures, respectively until reaching final humidity of 8% (w/w).  then the effect of drying conditions were determined on the total oil, free fatty acid (acidity value), peroxide value, and color of extracted oil and the germination capacity of dried seed.  the result showed that the optimum drying conditions for rapeseed and rape kernel was obtained at 80ºc temperature with 12% moisture content and 40ºc with 12% moisture content (according to the germination capacity), respectively.