| Author | Le Van Dao |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.AE-95-14 |
| Subject(s) | Rice--Postharvest technology
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of
Master of Engineering |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The on-farm post-harvest handling systems and their effects on the rice milling
quality were studied in the Thanhhoa province of Vietnam. This study was made to estimate
the rice milling quality losses caused by different post-production operation and systems and
to recommend appropriate systems and measures to reduce the on-farm quality losses.
The results of survey conducted for 45 farm households show that there are three
major rice post-production system existing in the province. Among the operations, only two
operations of threshing and milling are partially or fully mechanized, while other operations
still employ the traditional practices like harvesting paddy by sickle, drying by sunlight on
paved yard and storage of paddy in wooden bin or clay jar.
The post-harvest experiments were implemented for all operations from threshing to
milling to quantify their impacts on rice milling quality characteristics such as milling and
head rice recovery, percentage of damaged and discolored grains. Results of the experiments
indicate that milling operation induces the greatest loss in milling quality. For instance, the
milling operation causes 2.5% to 7.5% loss in milling recovery and 16% to 30% loss in head
rice yield, while all pre-milling operations cause insignificant loss in milling recovery and
2.5% to 13% loss in whole kernel recovery.
The economic analysis of alternative rice post-production systems was carried out to
select the most economically suitable systems. Based on the calculated cost-benefit ratios of
three different systems, it was recommended that for the farm size less than 1 ha and labor
cost less than 1.5 US$/man-day, the two post-harvest handling systems consisting of
harvesting by sickle, threshing by pedal drum thresher or motored axial-flow thresher and
drying by sunlight on paved yard are the most adaptable systems for the Thanhhoa province. |
| Year | 1995 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (Former title: Department of Food Agriculture, and BioResources (DFAB)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Agricultural and Food Engineering (AE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Athapol Noomhorm; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Jindal, Vinod Kumar;Vincent, Jean-Claude; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Japan - Asian Development Bank; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1995 |