AMARANTH

The materials of the article provide a historical reference to the emergence and agronomic characteristics of amaranth. Today, more than 100 species of amaranth are known in the world. In Ukraine, amaranth began to be grown in 1989-1992. The yield of amaranth green mass can be more than 100 t/ha. Amaranth grain yield in Ukraine ranges from 25 to 40 centners per hectare. The chemical composition of amaranth grain and its processing products: amaranth oil, flour, grits was analyzed. The issues of using amaranth grain and its processing products in the bakery, meat, animal feed and pharmaceutical industry are considered. The main value of amaranth flour is the presence of protein and essential amino acids. Amaranth flour contains: 3.8 times more proteins than wheat flour, 9.4 times more lipids, 17 times more fiber, 8.8 times more ash; mineral substances: sodium 24 times, potassium 4.2 times, calcium 19 times, magnesium 6 times, phosphorus 5 times, iron 36 times; vitamins: thiamine 33 times, riboflavin 74 times, niacin 1.2 times. The oil contains up to 8% squalene, which provides healing and anti-inflammatory properties. The characteristics of the content of squalene in amaranth oil in comparison with olive oil are given. The agronomic issues of cultivation and features of post-harvest processing of amaranth are considered. The general view and layout of the seed plant using Fadeev's gentle fractional technology for the production of strong seeds are given. Methods of cleaning amaranth are analyzed and a technological scheme using pneumatic vibrating tables and a photoseparator is proposed. During cleaning, Fadeev sieves were used to remove mineral impurities, soot, and scum. A photo of various fractions obtained during amaranth cleaning is given. It has been established that the repeated separation of amaranth seeds, which have come off from the middle of the pneumovibrating table, can improve the quality of cleaning from the shrike. The photoseparator, when individually removing weeds, which are different in color from the color of pure seeds, cannot help but remove 4-5 pieces of pure seeds from the flow "for the company". It is this mixture of amaranth seeds and cornflower, which is dumped as waste after the photoseparator, is also "ennobled" during separation on a pneumatic shaker table, which in general makes it possible to minimize the share of waste when cleaning amaranth, and to bring the quality of cleaning to an absolute level.