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 Table of Contents 1. Institute Information__________________________________________________ 1 2. Project Abstract______________________________________________________ 2 3. Executive Summary___________________________________________________ 2 4. Introduction & Background ____________________________________________ 3 4.1 Project objectives________________________________________________________ 3 4.2 Expected project outputs _________________________________________________ 3 4.3 Approach and Methodology_______________________________________________ 3 4.3.1 Implementation methodologies___________________________________________________ 4 5. Progress to Date ______________________________________________________ 9 5.1 Implementation Highlights________________________________________________ 9 5.1.1 Influence of harvesting time on rice cracking________________________________________ 9 5.1.2 Drying of paddy using a reversible flat bed dryer_____________________________________ 9 5.1.3 Glass transition phenomenon in relation to rice cracking ______________________________ 10 5.1.4 High temperature drying and tempering effect on head rice yield and mechanical strength of rice 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 1. Institute Information Project Name Investigation of rice kernel cracking and its control in the field and during post-harvest processes in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam Vietnamese Institution Nong Lam University Vietnamese Project Team Leader Dr Vinh Truong Australian Organisation The University of Queensland Australian Personnel Associate Professor Bhesh Bhandari Professor Shu Fukai Date commenced April 2006 Completion date (original) March 2009 Completion date (revised) April 2009 Reporting period 6 months Contact Officer(s) In Australia: Team Leader Name: Bhesh Bhandari Telephone: +61733469192 Position: Associate Professor Fax:+61733651177 Organisation: The University of Queensland Email:b.bhandari@uq.edu.au In Australia: Administrative contact Name: Mr Kerry Johnston Telephone: +61 7 3365 7493 Position: Research support officer Fax: +61 7 33658383 Organisation: The University of Queensland Email: k.johnston@research.uq.edu.au In Vietnam Name: Vinh Truong Telephone: 84-8-7242527 Position: Head, Department of Chemical Engineering Fax: 84-8-8960713 Organisation: Nong Lam University Email: tv@hcmuaf.edu.vn 1 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. 2 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. 3 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 in sta ll ed in Ca n Th o. o lo g ies 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. 4 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 45 o C. 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. 5 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 6 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. 7 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) 8 [...]... 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...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. .. 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 9 - 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,... 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... depends on for a brown rice kernel moisture content (three rice varieties) Data points were plotted as an average breaking force of 50 rice grains g and tempering effect on head rice yield and mechanical strength of rice This preliminary work was carried out to investigate the effects of high temperature drying and tempering on head rice yield, fissure enumeration and breaking force of rice This work was... Head rice yield (HRY), cracked grain % and mechanical strength of the rice kernels of AG24 rice cultivar after subjected to various high temperature drying and tempering regimes 13 As said earlier one day training session for farmers was organised in Tan Phat cooperative (King Giang province) (Figure 12) Five extension workers also participated during this training period During this training session information... evaluate the full benefits at this stage, but we will be able to report the implementation and benefits in the forthcoming reports A large number of young and experienced staff members at NLU have been mobilised in research, extension, training activities Many of them are visiting fields during the harvesting period to collect data Engagement of several staff members at NLU in the project has certainly... collection of information, data analysis and delay in translation of information in English has made it difficult to submit the report in time We have only one milling lab for analysis of cracking, chalkiness and HRY However, the number of samples for analysis of all the experiments and surveys were too many (1000 samples/season) Beside, the project awaits information from number of collaborators 15 There... error of judgment on the base-line data collection The base line data presented in the last milestone report will be updated and revised in consultation with economist This also contributed the delay of subsequent report wriritng The training program has not been implemented as proposed partly due to the inability of Can Tho extension sub-unit (one of the collaborators) to assist us in the training and. .. in the next 6 months There will be much more work in the next 6 months which will involve training to farmers, service providers and extension workers, and collection of more data We will focus on training part of the program in the next months The more baseline data will collected during wet season and the current one will be revised 16 9 Conclusion In our point of view, the project output is satisfactory . 1. Institute Information Project Name Investigation of rice kernel cracking and its control in the field and during post-harvest processes in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam Vietnamese Institution. cracking and its control in the field and during post-harvest processes in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam NONG LAM UNIVERSITY Table of Contents 1. Institute Information__________________________________________________. 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