Influence of Moisture Content,Variety and Parboiling on Milling Quality of Rice Grains

The effects of moisture content （8%, 10%and 12%）, variety （Tarom and Fajr） and parboiling on milling quality of rice as a function of milling recovery （MR）, head rice yield （HRY）, degree of milling （DOM） and whiteness were investigated. The parboiled grains was prepared with three soaking temperatures of 25 oC, 50 oC and 75 oC and three steaming times of 10, 15 and 20 min. As a result of parboiling, the increasing rates of MR and HRY values were 7.8%and 14.3%for Tarom and 9.8%and 10.0%for Fajr, respectively, and the decreasing rates for DOM and whiteness were 6.6%and 10.8%for Tarom and 6.8% and 10.5% for Fajr, respectively. Moreover, decreasing moisture content to 8%maximized MR （75.8% for Tarom and 74.3% for Fajr） and HRY （65.8% for Tarom and 57.0% for Fajr） while increasing that to 12%revealed maximum values of DOM （6.1%for Tarom and 6.2%for Fajr） and whiteness （24.8%for Tarom and 28.2%for Fajr）.

Life Cycle Assessment modeling of milk production in Iran

Livestock units are known as one of the most influential sectors in the environment pollution.Therefore,the aim of this study was to investigate the environmental impacts of milk production in Guilan province of Iran through Life Cycle Assessment(LCA)methodology.The primary data were collected from 45 units of milk production through a field survey with the help of a structured questionnaire.The reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and was estimated an acceptable value of 0.91.The consumption of resources and emissions were allocated to a functional unit(FU)of one ton of milk.Impacts of emissions in five impact categories of global warming,acidification,eutrophication,photochemical oxidation and depletion of resources were investigated.The results showed that the characterization index for these impact categories were 1831 kg CO2 eq,7.97 kg SO2 eq,3.42 kg PO4^-3 eq,0.21 kg C2H4 eq and 838.39 MJ,respectively.Final indices for these impact categories were calculated as 0.24,0.28,0.076,0.017 and 0.046,respectively.Environmental index(EcoX)and resources depletion index(RDI)were obtained 0.61 and 0.04,respectively.In this study,the highest potential for environmental impacts of production revealed for acidification and followed by global warming impact category.

Sensitivity analysis of energy inputs and economic evaluation of pomegranate production in Iran

The aim of this research was to investigate the energy use and costs of pomegranate production in Behshahr city(Mazandaran province)of Iran.The required data were gathered by questionnaire and face to face interviews with 83 pomegranate producers.Cobb-Douglas model and sensitivity analysis were employed for energy flows modeling of the production system.The total energy inputs and energy output of production were determined to be 11195.06 and 13276.56 MJ ha
1,and two inputs of diesel fuel and chemical fertilizers with the shares of 45.81 and 23.47%,were the highest energy consumers for pomegranate production.Energy use efficiency,energy productivity and net energy were 1.18,2081.50 MJ ha
1 and 0.62 kg MJ
1,respectively.The results of Cobb-Douglas model showed that the effect of the energy inputs including human labor,biocides,chemical fertilizers,farmyard manure,electricity and water for irrigation on pomegranates yield were positive,while the effects of diesel fuel and agricultural machinery were negative on the pomegranate yield.The sensitivity analysis results of energy inputs showed that with the increase of one MJ in the energy input of water for irrigation and chemical fertilizers,the yield was increased to 3.12 and 1.42 kg,respectively.Also with the increase of one MJ in diesel fuel and agricultural machinery inputs,the yield was decreased to 0.67 and 0.47 kg,respectively.Diesel fuel as the most used energy input in the production accounted for 0.85%of variable costs and the benefit to cost ratio was determined to be 5.57.