Abstract
The objectives of this study were to evaluate respiration characteristics and develop empirical respiratory rate equations for short gain rough rice. The carbon dioxide concentrations generated from mush rice at four level temperatures(10, 20, 30, 4$0^{\circ}C$) and 4 level moisture contents(17.2, 21.5, 25.9, 31.6％, d.b.) were measured by gas chromatography. The respiratory rates' increased exponentially with gain temperature and also with moisture content The relationship between respiratory rate and gain temperature fitted the Arrehenius' and Core's equations very well. Two empirical respiratory rate equations were presented as a function of gain temperature and moisture content. The values of determination coefficient for the developed respiratory rate equations were 0.999, and the result of t-test showed that there were no significant differences between predicted and measured respiratory rates on significance level of 1%. Therefore, it appeared that respiratory rates predicted by the respiratory rate equations agreed well with measured values. An equation for predicting dry matter losses of rough rice during storage was presented by modifying the respiratory rate equations based on chemical reaction of decomposition of carbohydrate.
