Aflatoxin is a toxic secondary metabolite produced by different species of Aspergillus in food crops when stored under hot and humid conditions. Among the various aflatoxins produced by fungi aflatoxin B1 has been proved to have carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic and immunosuppressive effects. They often contaminate human food, animal feed and agricultural produce. Rice straw acts as a common...

Rice has fed more people than any other crop has for thousands of years. The ancient Indian name for rice, Dhanya, means “sustenance for the human race.” Especially in much of Asia, life without rice has been unthinkable. Rice feeds more than half of the world population, but most rice is consumed within 10 miles of where it is produced. Rice is the 2nd largest crop in planting acreage after wh...

A study was conducted at the research farm of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Gazipur, Bangladesh during August 2011 to May 2012 in two consecutive rice seasons of T. aman and Boro using three types of organic residues viz. poultry manure, cowdung and rice straw as treatments to quantify their effects on soil carbon, nitrogen, carbon sequestration and CO2 emission. Po...

Two experiments were carried out to investigate i) the effects of four levels of lactic acid bacteria inoculants (LAB; 0, 2×10, 3×10 and 4×10 cfu/g fresh forage) and two physical forms of rice straw (whole and chopped rice straw) on silage fermentation quality and nutritive value of rice straw (RS) silage for lactating Holsteins and ii) the effects of the replacement of corn silage (CS) with di...

The objective is to evaluate the primary mechanical and physical properties of particleboard made from hammer-milled rice straw particles of six different categories and two types of resins. The results show the performance of straw particleboards is highly dependent upon the straw particle size controlled by the opening size of the perforated plate inside the hammer-mill. The static bending an...

containing about 1.90 million Mg of nutrients, are available in the IGP of India (Sarkar et al., 1999). In the Rice (Oryza sativa L.)–wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) farmers in Indian Punjab alone, about 12 million Mg of rice straw India burn or remove residues to facilitate seedbed preparation. Incorare burned annually, which causes about 0.7 million Mg poration of residues before planting of the...

Although human exposure to arsenic is thought to be caused mainly through arsenic-contaminated underground drinking water, the use of this water for irrigation enhances the possibility of arsenic uptake into crop plants. Rice is the staple food grain in Bangladesh. Arsenic content in straw, grain and husk of rice is especially important since paddy fields are extensively irrigated with undergro...

A field experiment was conducted for two years on a sandy loam (Typic Ustochrept) soil of Punjab to study the effect of organic materials and rice cultivars on methane emission from rice fields. The methane flux varied between 0.04 and 0.93 mg m(-2) hr(-1) in bare soil and transplanting of rice crop doubled the methane flux (0.07 to 2.06 mg m(-2) hr(-1)). Among rice cultivars, significantly (p ...

Xylitol was produced by Candida guilliermondii from charcoal-treated and untreated rice straw hemicellulosic hydrolysate with or without nutrients (ammonium sulphate, calcium chloride, rice bran extract). Both, xylitol yield and volumetric productivity decreased significantly when the nutrients were added to treated and untreated hydrolysates. In the treated hydrolysate, the efficiency of xylos...