| Seed drying, reducing seed moisture content after harvesting and before seed storage is a key factor to maintain a long-shelf life. The viability of rice seeds can be maintained for 5-10 years at ambient temperature if they are stored in a moisture- and air-proof container with seed moisture content of 4-6%. The purpose of this research was to study the potential of zeolite drying beads to dry rice seeds to 6 % seed moisture content. Two experiments were carried out by blending the drying beads with rice seed var. Pitsanuloke 2at three different bead to seed ratios, three drying temperatures (30 o C, ambient temp. and 40 0C ) and four drying periods (12, 24, 36 and 48 hours). The results revealed that rice seed moisture content could be reduced to 3.2 %... |
