Physico-mechanical properties of rough rice grain under different moisture conditions

Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate some physical and mechanical properties of three Hungarian rice varieties named Dáma, Janka and M488 under different moisture levels to be a useful data for modelling the moisture changes in rough rice storage bins. Rough rice grains were conditioned to moisture contents of 12, 18, 24, and 30% (w.b.). Five mechanical expressions named rupture force (Fr), maximum stress (σmax), grain deformation (D), energy (E) and toughness (T) were extracted from stress–strain curve for all tested varieties as a function of moisture content. Also, some physical properties such as bulk density, true density, porosity and some morphological features of grain were determined as a function of moisture content for tested rough rice grain. The results revealed that the measured physical and mechanical properties are significantly effected by moisture contents for the three tested rice varieties. In general, when the moisture content increased, the rupture force and maximum stress decreased for all investigated grains. However, the deformation, energy and toughness firstly decreased with moisture content increase and after that increased with further increase of moisture content for all rice varieties. On the other hand, the bulk density, true density and porosity do not have a specific trend with increasing moisture content. Moreover, there was a significant difference among the selected rice varieties in terms of their bulk density and porosity at the same moisture content range.