ABSTRACT
Physical properties are indicators of the quality of cereal grains. Equipment for the handling, harvesting, processing, sorting, cleaning, grading, and separation are often designed on the basis of these properties. Projected area and volume values of the grains are important parameters in cooking, aeration, and artificial drying processes. The irregular shapes and composition of most of the biological materials further signify the utility of these characteristics. Physicochemical and nutritional properties of major millets make them suitable for large-scale utilization and consumption in the world, by manufacturing a wide variety of value-added food products, e.g. baby foods, dietary foods, and ready-to-eat (RTE) snacks. Millet grains available on the market are of varying sizes, shapes, and colors. Milling is an important and intermediate step in the postproduction processing of grains and in the transformation of raw materials into finer primary products for secondary processing.
