Rice is one of the most versatile crops and constitutes a principal source of calories for Asia, Africa, and South America and this trend will continue well into the 21st century (Pingali et al. 1997). Rice is planted on about 150 million ha of land annually (11% of the world’s arable land); it is cultivated worldwide under a wide range of agro-climatic conditions ranging from irrigated, rain-fed low land, rain-fed upland and flooding ecosystems.
Global rice production has been increased due to introduction of high yielding varieties and improved agricultural practices. According to the FAO, global milled rice production was estimated to increase from 491.1 million tons in 2012 to 493.9 million tons in 2013 which was by around 0.6% (http://oryza.com/news/rice-news/fao-estimates-2014-global-rice-trade-383-million-tons-3-last-year).
Appearance, eating, cooking, milling and nutritional qualities are the primary components of rice grain quality. The values of each of these components are determined by the physiochemical properties and other socio-cultural factors such as the history and traditions of the localities where rice is grown. According to Unnevehr et al., (1992) and Juliano and Villareal (1993) the appearance quality of rice is determined by grain dimensions, specifically by grain length, width, width-length ratio, and the shape and translucency of the endosperm. Rice can be classified into different grain types based on grain dimensions including short, medium, and long types. McKenzie and Rutger 1983 has reported that medium and short grain cultivars tend to be low amylose rice and exhibit high gelatinization temperatures and moist, chewing cooking properties. In contrast, long grain rice generally contains high amylose ...
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...sopyranosyl chains with α-1,6-bonds. Amylopectin molecules are highly branched and constitute the skeleton of the starch granules (Kossmann and Llyod 2000). The basic structure of amylopectin was defined by Peat and others (1956) based on linear A, B, and C chains. A, the outer chains, are attached through their potential reducing end to B chains. However, B chains are linked in the same way and carry one or more A chains. In contrast, the C chains are single reducing group of the amylopectin molecule and carry other chains. The cluster model has been refined on the basis of the A-, B-, C- chain terminology of Peat and others (1956) and Hizukuri (1986). (B-chains that are present within a single cluster as designated are B1 chains, whereas, long B-chains that interconnect clusters are referred to as B2, B3, and B4, depends on the number of clusters interconnected).
In the first chapter of the book the author discusses a brief world history and evolution of rice crops. It is interesting to see that even though parts of Africa had their own rice crop variety, the globalization of rice crop Oryza Sativa has been slowly replacing the African variety. The author also starts
agriculture. A new fast ripening rice was blossoming in Vietnam that was drought resistant led to
Due to its unique properties and nutritional role, usage of starch in many food applications is currently increasing. It is widely used as a thickener agent, colloidal agent, colloidal stabilizer, bulking agent and water retention agent(Singh, Kaur, & McCarthy, 2007).Sensory qualities and suitability of specific end products depends upon the
With the rapid growth of our global population pouring into the next millennium, we will witness an ever-growing hunger rate around the world. That is unless we call for a revolution on the global scale. The Green Revolution which already sprouted in the early part of the century only need to add a bit more momentum and we will see a bright future for the human race, a future without hunger and starvation ¡V hopefully.It is becoming increasingly difficult for the planet to support its overwhelming population. And since the amount of arable land available is becoming scarce, we must seek ways to dramatically improve crop yields of existing cropland.
The cultivation of rice has had an enormous impact on the natural biome. Rice has affected the natural biome that it is grown in, in a devastating way. It has caused the natural biomes to deteriorate and caused the natural way of life to collapse leaving no place for the native animals and plants. But what would happen if the cultivation of rice stopped and the natural biomes returned to their former glory? What would happen to all those people depending on rice for the next meal? Those who depend on rice to pay for and keep their families alive? This report looks at the where, effects, who and how of rice cultivation.
The first transgenic approach is enhancing iron concentration in rice endosperm which relies on a single gene (overexpression of ferritin gene). Ferritin is the primary storage of a soluble and bioavailable form of iron protein in all of the aerobic organisms. The expression of the single gene on the rice endosperm has been presented that this transgenic rice contains a two-fold in iron accumulation than non-transgenic rice (Masuda et al., 2013). Further research on transgenic rice is using two targeted expression genes, ferritin and nicotianamine synthase. The synergetic effect of overexpressing ferritin consequents increasing in iron storage and nicotianamine synthases improve the capability to uptake iron. Subsequently, this transgenic rice which involves targeted gene of ferritin and synthesis action of nicotianamine showed improving iron content on endosperm rice more than six times (Wirth et al., 2009). Another research on transgenic rice by introducing soybean ferritin gene and three barley genes (a mugineic acid synthase gene, the nicotianamine synthase gene, and two nicotianamine aminotransferase genes) is T3 transgenic rice. This T3 rice contains 2.5 times higher than non-transgenic rice grows in the calcareous soil and four times greater in the normal soil (Masuda et al.,
Throughout the history of the human race there have been a great number of crops that were discovered, planted, and over time domesticated. Wheat in the Middle East, rice in Asia, and rye in Eastern Europe are all some of today’s staple crops that feed millions every day. Crops like these make up over 50% of the world’s total food supply. However, the third most eaten crop in the world is maize, or corn, which provides 21% of human nutrition. Today maize feeds millions across the world, but its history is different from the others.
Composting process as a means of bioremediating the harmful waste can be assessed in terms of its hygienic aspect since the effect of its quality is indicative of its essentiality and feasibility in the environment. Hygienic relevance of composting is primarily related to the microbes functioning as composters, the dust aerosols in the ambient air of the compost pile, and the type, concentration and state of the waste to be degraded. In terms of its hygienic feature, the compost may pose threat to human health as it generates immune response in living systems possibly triggered by leftover microbes, dust and target compounds to be treated in the compost matter. Although many of the toxins and pathogens are diminished to a great number, the presence of pathogens in the compost might be able to contaminate the food chain as plants get into contact with it. Composting is an acknowledged pathogen reducing technique, but certainly not an eradication system. Also the management of the process and heterogeneous pile conditions in compost may pose particular challenge concerning the biosafety of this process. Composting has been successfully adopted but enough biological research is lacking on the biosecurity of this process. Accordingly regarding the microbial profile of the compost, the experimental studies and characterization of microbes with respect to hygienic relevance by various scientists are discussed and reviewed as under.
Compost is an easy solution to eliminating the waste that our environment brings, while at the same time, providing many benefits to us, and the environment. By using compost, it improves our plant growth by enriching the soil that it drinks its nutrients from. It helps us avoid buying soil amendments such as peat, bark mulch and bagged manure. Compost also loosens the heavy clay that is in our soil, while improving the capacity to hold water and adding essential nutrients.
A new global climate model predicts that in the coming decade, the surface air temperature is likely to exceed existing records (Smith et al., 2007). Growing season temperatures in the tropics and subtropics by the end of the 21st century will exceed the most extreme temperatures recorded in the history (Battistic and Rosamond, 2009). Agriculture is considered to be one of the most vulnerable sectors to climate change. Although at present, the overall impact of climate change on global agricultural productivity is not reliably estimated (Gornall et al., 2010). Many studies show serious implications on agricultural productivity, for instance IFPRI(2009) projects that in South Asia by 2050 climate change will reduce production of rice, wheat and maize by 14%, 44% to 49% and 9%-19% respectively relative to no climate change situation.
Agriculture has changed dramatically, especially since the end of World War II. Food and fibre productivity rose due to new technologies, mechanization, increased chemical use, specialization and government policies that favoured maximizing production. These changes allowed fewer farmers with reduced labour demands to produce the majority of the food and fibre.
Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is one of the world’s important food crop and is a major food crop in developing countries (Woolfe, 1992). Sweet potato ranks as the world’s seventh most important food crop after wheat, rice, maize, potato, barley, and cassava (CIP,2000; FAO,2002). Sweet potato is mainly produced in marginal soils in low-input subsistence farming systems of developing countries where it is a major food crop and it is consumed in large quantities (Woolfe, 1992; Grüneberg et al., 2005) and an important staple food crop in Rwanda. It is quickly becoming an important supplementary staple in Eastern and Southern part of the Africa continent (Tumwegamire, 2004). The importance of sweet potato in daily Rwandan diets has to be underlined and sweet potato is one among the two most important crops: common beans and sweet potato, that help so much in the traditional foods of many Rwandese
...ck. Chemical free rice farming appears to be a more cost-effective solution for individual farmers.
Rice was introduced into Japan between the Final Jomon and the Early Yayoi Period, some scholars suggest that it could have been as early as six-thousand years ago. There are various Japanese characters from each time period that represent the growing of rice. In order to grow rice in Japan, the steep land has to be terraced. This creates small areas high on mountainsides where various things are grown. In 2012, 1.55 million hectares were used to grow rice in Japan. However, this number is significantly smaller than it has been in previous years. In 2008, 4.68 million hectares of rice were being harvested. The average field for one farmer is very small and the production of the rice is highly mechanized. The steep decline in hectares of rice grown is because the number of Japanese farm households has declined dramatically in recent years. Some farmers in Japan even consider rice farming to be a part time job and not as important as other commodities. The decline is also from a change in the Staple Food Control Act in 1969. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries asked farmers to reduce their rice acreage because of the overproduction of rice. This was put into place to lower the rice amount and spend more focus on other agricultural products in order to compensate in other areas.
Okra , Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench is a economically well-known vegetable grown in tropical and sub-tropical countries of the world. Okra has relatively large area under cultivation in Africa and Asia with immense socioeconomic potential ( Kumar et.al.,2010). In Malaysia, there is a need to cultivate okra seed on a large scale to meet the growing demand of vegetable in the market (Singh et al., 2014). In 2013, the total world area under cultivation of okra was 0.43 million hectares and the production stood at 8.69 million tons. However, the production of okra in Malaysia was only 27 thousand tones and the productivity was 12.8 tones/hectare (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2015). The production of okra in Malaysia is low compared to other developing countries.