Drying of paddyunder hermetic storage conditions in Burundi

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Date

2022

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Journal ISSN

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Publisher

Sokoine university of agriculture

Abstract

This study assessed the extent to which rice producers from Kidwebeziirrigation scheme could know their productivity loss during post-harvest activities and assessed the performance of drying and storing paddy in Grain Safe Dryer. To achieve these objectives, first simple random sampling was used to select 147 rice farmers in the study area. The collected data were subjected to analysis where output responsiveness with respect to each of the inputs, technical, allocation and economic efficiencies was estimated. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) analysis was used to estimate the perception of paddy loss during post-harvest activities. The study further assessed factors affecting loss levels among rice producers. Grain Safe Dryers were installed to assess the performance during drying and storage of paddy. The study applied GENSTAT to analyse the data from using Grain Safe Dryer to dry and store paddy. Findings of this study reveal that the paddy lost during post-harvest activities were between 0 and 9%.Furthermore, the results show that the major factor affecting post-harvest losses in the study area was the material used in post-harvest activities. The study showed that the Grain Safe Dryer had high drying performance comparing to the sun dried paddy. Moisture contents of dried paddy were varied in sun drying and in the two Grain Safe Dryer units with the changes in atmospheric conditions. The initial moisture content was 25.3%, which decreased until it all reached 11.7% (in 19 days) in Grain Safe Dryers and 13.9% (in 3days) under sun drying. In case of germination percentage it was found to be higher (85.2%) in Grain Safe Dryer compared to sun drying (80.8%). Quality of rice after milling was found to be better (80%) in Grain Safe Dryer than sun drying (30%).On the other hand, seeds handled in Grain Safe Dryers gave higher germination rate and quality due to moisture content removed slowly during drying compared to sun drying. However, in terms of moisture removed, good quality, and germination percentage in Grain Safe Dryers were better compared to the sun dried paddy. However, it is recommended to carry more studies on Grain Safe Dryer to be assessed in different ecological zones before wider dissemination of the hermetic storage system for use as a dryer.

Description

Dissertation

Keywords

Drying, Paddyunder, Hermetic storage, Conditions, Burundi

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