Black soybean is the most important pulse crop of Uttarakhand, India. It is supposed to be very nutritious pulse for the people of Hill region and. Published scientific information about Black soybean is rarely available. Thin layer 0 drying experiments were conducted at five levels of temperature i.e. 32, 40, 50, 60 and 70 C at an air velocity of 0.4m/s and drying characteristics of Black Soybean was investigated to study the optimum drying air temperature and conditions. 0 Page’s model was found to fit best at drying temperatures of 40, 50 60 and 70 C. For optimization of drying air temperature mainly shrinkage, cracks, colour, milling recovery and energy consumption per kg of water removal were taken as parameters but shrinkage, colour and cracks in particular were considered as major parameters. The shrinkage 0 was increased from 2.27 to 12.84%. Rapid in the drying temperature range of 32 to 50 C. The colour did not change when 0 the drying temperatures increased from 32 to 50 C. There was not significant increase in the cracks development when 0 the drying temperature increased from 32 to 50 C.
