Improved method for prediction of milled rice moisture content based on Weibull distribution

The loss on drying method,which is regarded as the standard method of rice moisture content analysis,provides the most reliable results but is both labor intensive and time consuming.In order to improve the detection efficiency of the loss on drying method,this study investigated the drying characteristics of milled rice and developed an information fusion algorithm with which to predict milled rice moisture content based on the Weibull distribution and Levenberg-Marquardt(LM)algorithm.Application of the Weibull distribution model was investigated regarding its description of the drying kinetics of milled rice during infrared drying.An adaptive mechanism was applied to algorithm design,with the starting point of the estimation algorithm determined by calculating the drying rate at each measuring point,and the end-point distinguished using a two-level threshold algorithm.The calculated results were then compared with the measured data regarding the infrared drying of milled rice.For milled rice samples varying in moisture content from 14.44%-17.67%(dry basis),the relative error between predicted and observed values ranged 0.0037-0.0589,with a reduction in test time of 50.71%-67.87%.

Changes in Physicochemical,Cooking and Sensory Characteristics of Rice Shifted from Low-temperature Storage

The physicochemical, cooking, and sensory characteristics of stored rice were measured in order to investigate the quality changes in it after low-temperature storage. The quality of the stored rice was compared to that of the rice stored at ambient temperature(20℃, 30%–70% RH) at a 25 d interval during 200 d of storage. The rice was stored in a temperature controller at 4℃ for 3 months and later under a simulated condition similar to that of the main rice consumption areas in China(35℃, 80% RH and 30℃, 70% RH). The results showed that the fatty acid value, b value, and moisture content of rice stored at 35℃, 80% RH and 30℃, 70% RH had increased significantly, whereas its L value had decreased as compared to the rice stored at ambient temperature. Higher temperature storage caused a greater water uptake, whereas the dry mass in the residual cooking water notably reduced under the storage at 35℃ as compared to that at 20℃. Hardness increased and adhesiveness reduced under the storage at 35℃ as compared to that at 20℃. The shelf life of the stored rice which was shifted from a low temperature to three storage conditions used in this study was 75 d, 100 d and 150 d, respectively, in the main rice consumption areas of China.