Milling Characteristics and Nutritional Quality of Paddy Rice Processed Using Biomass Powered Stove

Milling and nutritional quality of rice processed using wood and rice-husk briquette powered biomass stove was investigated. There was significant difference (p≤0.05) in milling attributes of the processed rice among volumetric air flow rates. There was no significant difference (p≥0.05) in the milling attributes of the processed rice between the treatments. The L-values ranged from 60.20 to 62.40 with the least values at 0.18 m3/s and 0.20 m3/s and the highest value at 0.25 m3/s. The percentage head rice (HR) ranged from 98.50 to 98.83% which were fairly the same. The lowest and highest values of (HR) were obtained at 0.25 m3/s and natural air flow. Milling recovery (MR) ranged from 68.21 to 68.60% with the highest values at 0.25 m3/s and the least value at natural air flow. Similar trends were observed for milling attributes with exception of chalkiness that remained constant for all treatments. The values for other quality parameters of the milled rice showed that fire wood and briquette recorded fairly similar values, although, briquette recorded higher values in some cases with the exception of chalkiness that showed exactly the same trend at different treatments. The carbohydrate content of the rice processed using briquette was higher than those processed using fire wood and most of the other quality indices such as protein, ash which is an indication of presence of mineral elements were higher for briquettes compared with fire wood. The results revealed that powering the stove was advantageous since the quality indices of the rice were enhanced