The Andhra Agric.

J 65 (spl): 400-405, 2018

Quality Changes of Rice in Underground Storage Using Different Lining

Materials
Aditya Patnaik, S K Dash and Anjali Sudhakar
CAE&T, OUAT, Bhubaneswar.

ABSTRACT
The underground storage structures are used for storage of paddy in some parts of India. They provide
curing effect to rice and the rice thus stored is often preferred for its taste and cooking qualities. The conventional
underground storage structures provide a straw lining, which requires skilled labour and additional cost. A study
was planned to analyze the physico-chemical changes occurring in the underground storage so that such situations
could be simulated in other conditions and to consider the feasibility of replacing straw with plastic lining, which
would be convenient to use.Two underground storage structures were constructed one with straw and the other
with HDPE lining. The different dependent parameters used for the study included the physical parameters as
moisture content, physical dimensions, thousand grains weight (TGW), bulk density (BD) and particle density
(PD); chemical characteristics as insoluble amylose content; and cooking characteristics as water uptake ratio. The
storage was continued for four months and the samples were drawn at monthly intervals from three different depths
for analysis.After the end of storage period of 6 months the change in physical properties such as moisture content,
length-breadth ratio, total grain weight, bulk density, particle density varied from the range 13.68±0.11% to
13.5±0.122%, 3.363±0.124 to 3.021±0.047, 17.4±1.14 g to16.4±0.58 g, 17.4±1.14 g to16.4±0.58 g and
1565.8±4.266 to 1542±4.472 kg/m³ respectively. The insoluble amylose gradually increased during the storage
period. The values of insoluble amylose changed from 5.037±0.025% to 8.396±0.133%, 8.357±0.206%, and
8.331±0.025% for top, middle and bottom layers of the straw lined structure respectively, whereas the values of
insoluble amylose ranged as8.357±0.114%, 8.478±0.215% and 8.457±0.139% from top to bottom in the HDPE
lined structure, respectively.The water uptake ratio gradually increased from 160.942±0.835% to 181.164±1.609%,
186.595±0.899%, 185.285±0.239% from top layer to bottom layer in straw lining underground storage structure
and from 160.942±0.835% to 181.639±1.22%, 182.233±2.721%, 190.947±1.542%, from top layer to bottom
layer in HDPE lining structure.

Keywords: HDPE, insoluble amylase, physical property, Straw, Water uptake ratio

Rice is the staple food for a large part of
human population, especially in east Asia, south
east Asia, south Asia, the Middle East, and the West
Indies. About 65% of the population in India
consumes rice. India is the second largest producer
of rice in the world next to China. In India, rice
occupies the first place both in area and the
production. Indian rice has been a favorite among
international rice buyers. Paddy is harvested once
or twice in a year and stored for consumption
throughout the year. Therefore good storage
facilities are important for the farmers all over the
world. Though in developing countr ies,
considerable losses occur in the field, both before
and during harvest, the maximum losses are noticed
during storage. According to World Bank, post-
harvest losses in India amount to 12 to 16 million
metric tonnes of food grains each year, an amount
that the World Bank stipulates could feed one-third
of India’s poor. The monetary value of these losses
amounts to more than Rs 50,000 crores per year
(Singh, 2002).
It is estimated that 60-70% of food grain
produced in the country is stored at home level in
indigenous storage structures. The storage methods
range from mud structures to modern bins. The
traditional containers are made from a variety of
locally available materials differing in design,
shape, size and functions. The materials used
include paddy straw, wheat straw, wood, bamboo,
reeds, mud, bricks, cow dung etc. Grains can be
stored indoor, outdoor or at underground level
(OECD, 2004).
Underground storage structure is also one
of the oldest traditional storage structures for
grains. However, the significant advantage associated
with the underground structure is the aging effect
on rice, which is accelerated by underground storage.
The cooking quality and other physical
characteristics of the rice also changes, which could
2018 National Conference on Digital Technology
be due to higher temperature of the grain kept
underground during winter months and controlled
curing. Accelerated ageing of rice has direct effect
on the physical, chemical and textural properties of
rice (Hardeep et al. 2002, Golam et al. 2003). The
storage of rice produces changes in pasting properties
as decrease in peak viscosity and breakdown but
an increase in final viscosity, setback and pasting
temperature (Katekhong and Charoenrein, 2012).
With the progress of aging, milling yield remained
72.19% (+0.5%), while the head rice recovery
increased from 66.29% (freshly harvested) up to
68.4 % after 180 days of aging (Rayaguru and
Pandey, 2009). Storage improved cooking and eating
quality due to more amylose absorption, volume
expansion and flaky cooked rice after one year
storage period (Aslam et al. 1988). Increase in
amylase content has negative correlation with
stickiness and hardness ratio (Wang et al. 2012).
Successful underground structures therefore
depend on restricting the supply of air and moisture
moving into the structure from the outside
atmosphere and the s urrounding soil. The
underground structure frequently offers air-tight
environment to enable insects and other aerobic
organisms in the grain mass to reduce oxygen
concentration below the level that could permit
insect development. Hermetic storage provides
simple means to retain high seed germination,
lower insect infestation and also helps to maintain
high percentage of whole grains after milling
(Duong et al. 2006).
Though the changes in such quality
attributes have been experienced, still the basic
studies on changes in various characteristics of
paddy as affected by underground storage are
lacking. Hence the study of the changes in physico-
chemical characteristics of rice and the curing
effect in underground storage of paddy are
imperative. Another important aspect is that though
the underground stored rice is preferred by a
majority of people, but the use of such storage is
gradually reducing due to the scarcity and high cost
of labour. Thus, if the physico-chemical changes
occurring in the underground storage can be
analyzed, such situations could be simulated in
other places so that the grains could attain the
similar ageing effect as it happens in underground
structures. Thus a study was planned to analyze
the physico-chemical changes occurring in the
underground storage so that such situations could
be simulated in other conditions and to consider
the feasibility of replacing straw with plastic lining,
which would be convenient to use.
401
MATERIALAND METHODS
To study the effect of underground storage
on the physical and chemical characteristics of rice,
two underground stor age str uctures were
constructed at Berhampur, Odisha. One of them
was insulated with straw as per the farmers’
practice and other one was insulated with high
density polyethylene (HDPE). Samples were drawn
from different structures at equal time intervals to
observe the physico-chemical changes occurring
in rice during storage. Samples were also stored in
ambient conditions to observe the difference in
curing effects in both ambient and underground
storage. The crop was stored in the structures
immediately after harvest in the first week of
January and the observations were taken for 4
months. The study was conducted in 15 days
interval till 2 months and then the study was
continued to conduct in every 1 month till 4 months
and quality analysis of the product was done at 0th,
15th, 30th, 45th, 60th, 90th and 120th days of storage
in underground.
2.1. Construction of underground structures
Two structures were prepared for storing
paddy with two different insulation materials. The
structures were constructed by the farmers
themselves as per their age old traditional practice.
The specifications of the structures are as follows.
Structure (i) : Underground structure with straw
lining
a. Length × Width (Top): 2.7m × 2.0 m
b. Length ×Width (Bottom): 1.9m × 1.2 m
c. Depth from ground level : 0.6 m
Structure (ii): Underground structure with HDPE
lining
a. Length × Width (Top): 2.4m × 1.7 m
b. Length ×Width (Bottom):1.6 m × 0.9 m
c. Depth from ground level : 0.6 m
After excavating the soil, in one pit (called
structure I hereafter) straw rope lining (12 cm) was
tightly wound along the side walls of the structure
from the bottom to the top. Thereafter some layers
of loose straws were placed (15 cm at the bottom
and 3 cm on sides). Thus the thickness of straw on
all sections was 15 cm. (However the thickness of
straw layer reduced with compression as the grain
was filled.) Thereafter, freshly harvested paddy
was poured in to the structure till it was completely
filled and was piled up as a pyramid (thus the grain
depth at the centre was 30 cm above ground level).
Then on the top, several layers of straw were spread
 402 Aditya et al.,
in cross wise manner up to a depth of 15 cm. On
the straw layer, dry soil (previously excavated from
the pit) was piled up and was compacted. On the
next day, the top was plastered with mud.
The structure II was provided insulation
with a thick HDPE of 500 microns, all other
conditions remaining the same.
For taking the observations, three PVC pipes
(10 cm diameter) were fixed from the top level of
the grains till the top of outer mud plaster in each
structure at three radial distances (centre, 46 cm
from the centre on the diagonal line and 91 cm from
the centre on the diagonal line). The length of PVC
pipes were 28 cm. The PVC pipe was tightly filled
with straw and cotton waste to provide complete
air tightness and insulation. The top of the pipes
were additionally protected with polyethylene to
prevent moisture absorption by the cotton blocks.
For drawing the samples double sleeve
triers were used. At the time of drawing samples,
the augers were inserted into the grain through
these openings and the samples could be drawn
from different depths. Total of 18 samples from 6
pipes of two structures and one controlled sample
kept in gunny bag at ambient temperature were
collected for the analysis of physico-chemical
changes on every 15days till 2 months and then
once in each month. Temperature probes were fixed
at different locations of the storage structure as well
as outside the structure to observe the temperature
variations at different locations in comparison to
the ambient. The temperatures were also noted by
inserting a rod, to which three nos. of temperature
probes were tied.
Freshly harvested CR1075 variety of
paddy was stored in both the structures. The same
variety of paddy was also kept in gunny bags under
ambient condition. The gunny bags were also
arranged in such a manner that the samples could
be drawn from 3 levels, from the top which is
exposed to the ambient environment, from the
bottom, which is least exposed to the environment
and is under pressure and from the middle in which
the grain is least affected by the surrounding
environment.
2.2. Determination of physico-chemical
properties
The moisture content was determined by
using SATAKE Digital grain moisture meter
(Model-ss-6). Previous calibration of the moisture
meter was also carried out by using a hot air oven.
The length-breadth ratio of paddy was determined
by taking the average length of 10 paddy grains
AAJ 65
divided by the average width of same 10 paddy
grains. The method was followed as per the method
followed by Sidhu et al. (1975). Thousand grain
weight (TGW) was determined by taking the
weight of 1000 grains using weighing balance as
per the Usha et al. (2014). The bulk density of
paddy grain was determined by pouring the sample
into a 25 ml volumetric flask by shaking and lightly
tapering the bottom of the flask on a plastic pad.
The flask was filled up to the mark with the sample,
weighed and bulk density was calculated as per
the method used by the Rosniyana et al. (2007).
The toluene displacement procedure was used to
determine the particle density by taking 5 g of
paddy as per Sidhu et al. (1975). The insoluble
amylose content in milled rice samples was
determined as suggested by William et al. (1970).
The cooking characteristics of rice were determined
as per Tungtrakul and Chaiyong (2008). Eight
grams of head rice was soaked in 160 ml of distilled
water for 30 min. Then the rice was cooked in
boiling water for 12 min. The different properties
of cooked rice were then calculated as follows.
Wc - Wuc
Water uptake (%) = x100
Wuc
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
There was no noticeable change in moisture
content of rice stored underground and in ambient
conditions. . The initial moisture content of the grains
measured at 13.52±0.13% and the moisture content
of the sample after 4 months storage varied from
13.68±0.11% to 13.5±0.122%.As observed from
Fig 3, it was observed that the moisture content of
rice during the period of storage in both the
insulation material in underground storage conditions
and also in the gunny bags kept at ambient
temperature was constant trough out the study
period.
The change in L/B ratio of rice during the
period of storage in both the insulation material in
underground storage conditions and also in the gunny
bags kept at ambient temperature is shown in Fig.
4. The initial L/B. ratio of the grains measured at
3.132±0.161 and the L/B. ratio of the sample after
storage varied from 3.363±0.124 to 3.021±0.047.
It was observed that there is no much variation in
the L/B ratio of rice during the period of storage.
Fig. 5 shows the changes in 1000 grain
weight of the rice stored underground with straw
insulation and Polyethylene insulation during the
period of storage. The initial thousand grain weight
(TGW) of the grains was found out as 17.09±0.94g
2018 National Conference on Digital Technology 403

Fig 1. Schematic diagram of underground Fig 2. Temperature probes inserted into the
storage structure structures

Fig 3. Changes in moisture content of rice during Fig 4. Changes in L/B ratio of rice during the
the study period study period

Fig 5. Changes in thousand grain weight of rice Fig 6. Changes in bulk density of rice during the
during the study period study period

Fig 7. Changes in particle density of rice during Fig 8. Changes in amylose of rice during the
the study period study period
404 Aditya et al., AAJ 65

(2009) observed that there was significant increase

in the insoluble amylose of rice during storage.
Fig. 9 shows the values of water uptake
ratio as observed for 3 different depths in both straw
and poly ethylene lining underground storage
structure and also for the sample kept at ambient
conditions. The water uptake ratio was gradually
increased from 160.942±0.835 to 181.164±1.609,
186.595±0.899, 185.285±0.239 from top layer to
bottom layer in straw lining underground storage
Fig 9. Changes in water uptake ratio of rice structure and water uptake ratio was increased from
during the study period 160.942±0.835 to 181.639±1.22, 182.233±2.721
190.947±1.542, from top layer to bottom layer in
PE lining structure. The water uptake ratio was
and the TGW of the sample after storage varied
increased from 160.942±0.835 to 188.991±1.542
from 17.4±1.14 g to16.4±0.58 g. It was observed
for the rice stored at ambient tempera ture
that there was no significant change in the 1000
throughout the study period. According to previous
grain weight of the rice during the period of storage
studies, Kanlayankrit et al. (2013) also observed
in both the insulation material in underground stor-
the water uptake ratio was increased during the
age conditions and also in the gunny bags kept at
stor age. The incr ease in storage time and
ambient temperature.
temperature can improve the water uptake ratio of
There was no noticeable change in Bulk
rice stored straw and PE lined structure.
density of all the samples kept in different condi-
tions. As observed from Fig. 6, It was observed
CONCLUSION
that the bulk density of rice during the period of
Rice stored in underground storage using
storage in both the insulation material in underground
HDPE lining has better quality than the rice stored
storage conditions and also in the gunny bags kept
in underground storage using straw lining.
at ambient temperature was constant trough out the
study period.
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