| The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of aflatoxin contamination on the dielectric constant of maize kernels. A factorial experiment comprising of three levels of moisture content (13.3, 15.3, and 16.4%), three frequencies (25, 50, and 100 kHz), and nine levels of aflatoxin contamination (0, 1.5, 2.6, 10, 50, 100, 150, 172, and 230 μg/kg) was used. The maize kernels were poured into a custom-built sample holder comprising a shielded parallel plate capacitor. An ISO-TECH LCR-821 meter was used to measure the capacitance, from which the dielectric constant was computed. The results indicated that moisture content and frequency significantly (p ≤ 0.05) affected the dielectric constant. The dielectric constant increased with increase in... |
