Project Progress Report: " Investigation of rice kernel cracking and its control in the field and during post-harvest processes in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam - Ms5" pot

The cracking or partial fissuring of rice kernels may occur right in the paddy field due to incorrect harvesting time/practice, improper post-harvest drying conditions and inappropriate

Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development

Project Progress Report MS5: SECOND SIX-MONTHLY REPORT

May 2007

026/05VIE

Investigation of rice kernel cracking and its control in the field

and during post-harvest processes in the Mekong Delta of

Vietnam

NONG LAM UNIVERSITY

11

5.2 Extension service _ 14 5.3 Smallholder Benefits 14 5.4 Capacity Building 14 5.5 Publicity 14 5.6 Project Management 15

6 Report on Cross-Cutting Issues 15

6.1 Environment 15 6.2 Gender and Social Issues 15

7 Implementation & Sustainability Issues _ 15

7.1 Issues and Constraints _ 15 7.2 Options _ 16 7.3 Sustainability 16

8 Next Critical Steps _ 16

9 Conclusion _ 17

10 Statuatory Declaration Error! Bookmark not defined

11 Project Progress Against Proposed Objectives, Outputs, Activities And Inputs

Error! Bookmark not defined

12 APPENDICES 20

1 Institute Information

and its control in the field and during post-harvest processes in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam

Vietnamese Project Team Leader Dr Vinh Truong

Australian Organisation The University of Queensland

Professor Shu Fukai

Contact Officer(s)

In Australia: Team Leader

Organisation: The University of

Queensland

Email:b.bhandari@uq.edu.au

In Australia: Administrative contact

Position: Research support officer Fax: +61 7 33658383

Organisation: The University of

Queensland

Email: k.johnston@research.uq.edu.au

In Vietnam

Position: Head, Department

2 Project Abstract

Reduced whole rice grain yield due to cracking is one of the major issues that directly reduce income and availability of staple food to the farmers in the Mekong River Delta The cracking or partial fissuring of rice kernels may occur right in the paddy field due to incorrect harvesting time/practice, improper post-harvest drying conditions and inappropriate milling operations This project aims to improve the quality and value of the rice, through an integrated approach which encompasses farmers, millers, service providers and extension workers and education institution A key objective of this project

is to improve the knowledge of smallholder farmers by organizing workshops and demonstration for farmer cooperatives in the region so that appropriate harvesting and subsequent grain handling techniques are observed to improve rice grain quality Similarly there will be demonstration and workshops for small millers to encourage them

to install driers and/or provide them technical knowledge to practice optimum drying conditions Improvement of the capacity of the extension workers by providing updated knowledge is another objective The theory of grain drying will be advanced that would improve designs of future dryers The education institutions involved in the project will work together for capacity building of their staff members in the Nong Lam University

3 Executive Summary

This report covers the major activities from 1 Sept 2006 to 30 April 2007 Since the project commencement date of April 2006, three cooperatives were selected for installation of driers and reapers in order to provide small holder farmers the technical knowledge to practice optimum harvesting, and drying methods and conditions During the last six-month one 4-ton drier (solar assisted) was installed in Go Gon cooperative (Moc Hoa, Long An province) Systematic data collection was undertaken in dry/spring season to quantify the amount of cracked rice in the field due to early or delayed harvesting practices Rice tempering experiments were conducted at the University of Queensland using Australian rice varieties

to apply molecular relaxation concept into rice cracking High temperature compact fluidised bed drying with tempering experiments were undertaken to determine technical suitability of such drier to dry high moisture content rice during wet season Farmers training program and demonstrations were held in Kien Giang province in order to disseminate the knowledge to the farmers about the rice cracking, drying and harvesting practices A separate refurbished laboratory has been provided by NLU for CARD project, where the entire laboratory based equipment units funded by CARD are now housed Overseas visits were undertaken by Vietnamese and Australian coordinators in Thailand and Philippines to learn about their experiences in rice cracking and get aware of their current activities in relation to post-harvest handling of rice and farmers’ training One NLU staff member undertook training at the University of Queensland, Australia during this period

4 Introduction & Background

The specific objectives of this project are:

1 To identify and generate information for the appropriate harvesting method (manual or mechanical) of rice to reduce grain cracking and losses

2 To improve the performance of current driers and optimise the drying method to minimise the broken portion on the basis of fundamental structural relaxation concept, particularly in a high temperature compact-drying system

3 To make the farmers, service providers, millers and extension workers aware of various factors responsible for harvesting and milling losses and degradation of rice quality

4 To increase the research and teaching capability of institution and staff members on rice quality and related products

The expected outputs during the last 6 months period were:

• Experiments are continued to identify optimum harvesting time and methods to reduce grain losses (dry/spring season)

• Demonstration materials are produced

• Experiments are conducted for optimum drying conditions identified for high temperature compact dryers

• Best drying condition identification for current flat-bed driers in MRD

• New process intervention introduced to validate molecular relaxation concept

• 520 farmers training

• Study tours for 80 farmers and service providers

• 130 service providers training for operating dryers at optimum conditions

• 39 extension workers are trained with new information

• Training of 1 staff member in Australia

• Visit of Vietnamese project leader in rice research institute in Cambodia, Thailand and Philippines

• Production of Reports

gy

The approach and methodology were adopted from the original project proposal In this project, the smallholder farmers are the major target for extension work through the pilot farmers’ cooperatives particularly for Objectives 1 and 3 Three farmers cooperatives were identified in three different provinces (Can Tho, Kien Giang and Long An) (Figures 1) One solar assisted 4-ton drier was installed in the cooperative in Long An province in January

2007 (Figure 2) One reaper and one combined harvester have been installed in Can Tho and Kien Giang provinces (Figure 3)

As for Objective 2, the analysis of the problem will be analysed at micro or molecular level using a glass-rubber transition and molecular relaxation concepts This new approach and understanding is expected to assist in developing high capacity dryers which will use high drying temperature and introduce tempering as intermediate process As for Objective 4, strong research collaboration was continued to be fostered at NLU to capture the expertise from various departments and faculties; a research staff member was trained in Australia and

a visit was organised for project leader in countries in the region

Figure 2: SDG-4 (reversible, 4-ton/batch) dryer with a solar collector (a new development at NLU in early 2007) This unique drying system has been installed in Go Gon farmers’

cooperative in Long An province

Figure 1: Location of three cooperatives (in Can Tho, Kien Giang and Long An provinces) in Mekong Delta

One 4-ton drier was installed

in Long-An province in Jan

2007 One 8 ton-drier was already installed in Kieng Giang province earlier

Another 8-ton drier is being installed in Can Tho

ologies

This project consisted of four main activities to achieve the goals as highlighted in the objectives:

Objective 1 activities: Conducting experiments to relate harvesting time and methods on

cracking fraction of rice and losses for different varieties and seasons

The objective of this experiment is to determine the effect of harvesting time on kernel cracking and optimize harvesting period of some rice varieties in Summer-Spring season in the MRD

Figure 3: A 1.3m wide reaper provided to Tan Phat cooperative (King Giang)

Harvesting time field experiments were conducted during dry/spring seasons on some most cultivated varieties (OM9410, OM2718, Jasmine and AG24) of Tan Thoi 1 (Can Tho) cooperative and other most cultivated varieties (OM2517 and OM4498) of Tan Phat A (Kien Giang) cooperative The farmers’ practice on their harvesting method and the losses were collected via questionnaire The number of rice kernels with cracks and chalkiness were measured for both brown and milled rice samples The full analyse of the results will be presented in the next report

Harvesting method (manual and harvester) comparison on the post-harvest losses during spring/dry harvesting season was also undertaken in Kien Giang, Can Tho and Long An provinces Cracking behaviour of the grain due to threshing was also investigated in Can Tho and Kien Giang provinces Data of the actual harvesting losses due to current harvesting practice by farmers were collected in Can Tho and Kien Giang provinces Experimental design and data will be presented in the next report

Base line data on the farmers practice was collected This has been reported in the previous report (MS4)

Objective 2 activities: This comprised of the following activities:

Optimization of the drying method based on glass relaxation phenomenon

In January 2007, one flat bed drier (4-ton capacity) was installed in Go Gon cooperative located in Long An Province after the consultation and agreement with the farmers cooperative representatives A solar assisted flat bed drier was developed by collaborator of this CARD project Dr Hien In this drier the solar heat is collected along the extended tubular collector (Figure 2) The air passing through this collector is heated up to 45oC This type of system is particularly suitable during spring/dry season This is coupled with a coal furnace During full sunny days in dry season no other energy source is required This is also a reversible type of flat bed drier The same drier was tested and used in the demonstration to farmers Dr Hien undertook experiments to characterise the driers in order to determine the optimum drying conditions These driers and the results obtained from the drying experiments were used for demonstration purposes in the farmers’ training The full drying data analysis submitted by Dr Hien will be incorporated in the next technical report

In addition to above dryer installed in a cooperative, another one-ton lab scale flat bed dryer

was constructed at NLU (Figure 4) This drier was also used for experiments and training

purposes

Figure 4: One-ton reversible experimental dryer: Airflow upward (left figure) and Downward

reverse (right figure)

A high temperature compact drier with a tempering system was designed and built at Nong

Lam University (Figure 5) Some preliminary testing was done in this drier Vietnamese

student (Mrs Tuyen-Thuc Truong) working at UQ is currently visiting NLU to undertake

experimental work using this drier Mrs Truong undertook experimental work to determine

the effect of tempering on the mechanical strength of rice The mechanical strength of

individual kernel of rice was measured using a Texture analyser (Figure 6) which is recently

purchased through this CARD project

Figure 5: Mobile compact laboratory fluid bed drier built at NLU This is being tested to dry high moisture paddy harvested in wet harvesting season in Mekong Delta

Figure 6: Texture analyser (TA.XTPlus) installed at NLU This analyser is being used to analyse the mechanical strength

of rice kernels The testing rig

Objective 3 activities: This comprises of following sub-activities:

Demonstrations to the farmers and provincial pilot cooperatives on the benefit of mechanical drying against sun drying and the economic value of the correct harvesting time and method

The demonstration and training activity for the farmers were undertaken in February 2007 in Tan Phat A Cooperative (Kien Giang province) A total 313 farmer representatives from Tan Hiep and Giồng Riềng districts participated in this one day training session (two days for two districts) (Figure 7) About 5 local extension officers also participated in the training session The harvesting and drying demonstrations and results obtained in the previous research were presented during these sessions Dr Vinh Truong, Mr Tran van Khanh, and Mr Nguyen Thanh Nghi were the training instructors

Figure 7: Full of the participants in the meeting hall at the training lesson in

25th February 2007

i Study the performance of milling plants and solutions to improve the milling efficiency

We have collected the data of milling losses in two provinces from three milling plants in each province (Kien Giang and Tien Giang) The same information was reported in the earlier 6 monthly report Since the work is being continued, the full report will be presented next year The available data will also be incorporated into the training manual

Objective 4 activities: Training the staff members to improve the R &D and teaching capability in

rice science and technology

The project coordinator Dr Vinh Truong visited King Mongkut’s University of Technology (KMUTT), Thonburi, Bangkok and IRRI, Philippines from 1 October to 6 October 2006 (Figure 8) This was an observation tour Information was gathered from those institutes with regard to rice drying, post-harvest handling, farmers’ training and milling Dr Bhandari and Prof Shu Fukai (Australian cooridinators) also visited those institutes along with Dr Truong

Mr Nguyen Thanh Phong from NLU undertook 3 months training in rice quality analysis at The University of Queensland (25 December 2006 to 24 March 2007) Investigation was done in relation

to the effect of tempering on the rice quality such as pasting behaviour (cooking quality), changes in physical properties such as crystallinity and colour The trainee had an opportunity to use various analytical equipment used for rice quality analysis, including rapid visco-analyser, X-ray diffraction and FTIR

Figure 8: Flat bed drier at IRRI, Philippines (top left), CARD project coordinators and IRRI personnel (top right), Rice miling facility at IRRI (bottom left), Prof Somchart Soponronnarit and others at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology, Thonburi Bangkok, on the background a rice drying pilot plant is seen (bottom, right)

5 Progress to Date

ts

The brief highlights of the project executed in the past 8 months are described below

ime on rice cracking

Experiments were conducted and data collected during the dry/spring season in Can Tho and Kien Giang Provinces for OM2718, OM1490, OM2517 and OM4498 varieties of rice This added up the data already collected in wet season which was reported in the last 6-monthly report The collected data is being analysed and will be presented in next report

reversible flat bed dryer

The sub-component of CARD Project 026/VIE-05 on the flat-bed dryer study, as specified in the contract, consists of the following activities:

• Select the site and supervise the installation of an 8-ton flat-bed dryer for experiments

• Conduct experiments with the 8-ton dryer under actual production conditions

• Build a lab (mini) dryer and other needed tools for experimenting under controlled conditions

• Conduct experiments to determine the optimum drying conditions for the flat-bed dryer (with or without air reversal) using the lab mini-dryer at the Nong-Lam University or at a nearby location

• Conduct a Participatory Rapid Rural Appraisal (PRRA) survey on the use of flat-bed dryer in the Mekong Delta

• Write extension materials for future training courses, based on the outcome of the survey and experiments

The above activities can be clustered into 3 groups:

- The 8-ton dryer

- The 1-ton dryer

- Survey, training, and extension The final report of the above-mentioned activities, covering the period from 15 May 2006 to

28 February 2007 has been submitted by Dr Hien’s group and will be incorporated into next report It is compiled from 2 earlier progress reports, and updated with most recent data and findings, thus conclusions from this report

The experiments were conducted in two seasons, wet and dry season crops The following conclusion were made

The experiment results using wet season crops (July 2007) showed that:

- the effect of air reversal is very apparent in reducing the final moisture differential When operated correctly, this differential is less than 2 % with air reversal, but at least 5% without air reversal More MC differential means more rice cracking during milling This explains why dryers installed since 2003 have been more and more of the reversible principle

- Air reversal also decreased the drying time

- The drying temperature was stable and can be kept within ± 3 oC

The experiments undertaken using dry season crops (March 2007) showed that:

- the mechanical drying, whether with or without air reversal, is superior to sun drying

in terms of less crack percentage or more head rice recovery About 3-4 % less cracking, and about 4 % more head rice recovery are main data obtained from this set

of experiments

- the mechanical drying with air reversal resulted in less Final MC differential (2.2 %) compared to without air reversal (4.6 %) which is similar to the results obtained in wet season

- the increase in crack percentage between mechanical drying with and without air differed by only 1 %; while judged by the head rice recovery, the difference was only 0.4 %, or almost no difference This was not expected in line with the above data on Final MC differential Thus more experiments should be conducted in the future to confirm the trend

All these information will be used in the extension activities As mentioned above, the full report will be attached in the next technical report

enon in relation to rice cracking

Three Australian grown rice varieties Tarra140, YRM64 and WAB450-I-B-P-160-HB (1.5%, 20% and 30.8% amylose content, respectively) were investigated for crystallinity, kernel mechanical strength (breaking force) and glass-rubber transition temperature by Thermal Mechanical Compression Test (TMCT) technique developed at UQ Some representative analytical graphs are presented in Figures 9 and 10 These rice varieties at three moisture content levels (17%, 13%, and 10% wb) were tempered at three temperatures (40, 60, and

800C) for four durations (40, 80, 120, and 240 min) without moisture loss The increase in mechanical strength during tempering was observed for YRM64 variety (non-waxy rice) while there was no such effect on Tarra140 (waxy rice) variety The finding in this study further confirms the key role of moisture content, temperature and tempering time upon mechanical strength of rice kernel during tempering It was also found that there is an occurrence of molecular relaxation during rice tempering as reflected by the increased mechanical strength of rice kernel of some varieties At the same time, it can also be suggested that the equilibration of differential moisture content in the rice kernel during actual tempering may have more dominating effect than the molecular relaxation for minimising rice cracking This is being further investigated