Welcome to Official Portal of Agriculture Department, Sikkim!

  • Change Font Size:
  • -A
  • |
  • A
  • |
  • +A
  • ||
  • Change Theme:
 
logo user
emblem userSign In
Home About Us Contact Us

More Menu

Post Harvesting

Post Harvesting:

Drying:
The produce should properly dry. Threshed paddy is further dried by spreading it in the sun. It dries during day and being hygroscopic, absorbs moistures during night. Thus it undergoes several cycles of drying and wetting, which cause fine cracks called ‘suncracks’ in some grains, which break up during milling. Paddy is also lost due to mixing dust, stones and foreign materials; therefore it is better way to carry out mechanical drying. In this process, moisture form paddy is removed at controlled rates by heated air an enclosed structure. Continues and batch type mechanical dryers of various designs are used for drying of paddy.

Storage:
Paddy should be clean and dry before storage. Storage of paddy has to be in a good airtight container. It must keep the rice safe and also maintain its quality. It should provide protection against humidity, moisture, insects, rats, birds, microorganisms and other contaminants. Care should be taken to store different varieties of paddy separately to avoid their mixing up. Impurities cause rapid deterioration in quality and quantity. High moisture content is the greatest enemy of good storage .high moisture paddy is easily attacked by insects and moulds. This causes hot spots to develop, which help mould and insects attack, leading to rapid deterioration. High temperature also promotes deterioration by moisture migration within the storage structures especially in soils. Hot paddy obtained after drying should not be immediately stored .it is estimated that 5to 10 per cent paddy is damaged in storage.

Paddy dried to a safe moisture level (less than 14 % wet basis) should be maintained dry and cool during storage. Paddy can be stored in bags or in bulk. The choice depends on a number of local factors including cost of construction, bags, operating and handling equipment, transport system, labour and management. Either method can provide safe storage as long as scientific storage practices are observed. Storage containers may be made of steel or concrete be air tight. Bagged paddy or rice should always be stacked on wooden dunnage to prevent moisture absorption and to permit good sanitation practices. Dunnage material should be cleaned and disinfested use. Paddy and rice are stacked 16 to12 bags high, respectively. The structure should be rat and moisture proof.

Yield:
Final yield of paddy depends upon many factors like variety used, soil fertility, weather and cropping season, input supply and management. Under normal transplanted condition, one can harvest 6-7 t paddy for yielding or hybrid rices of medium duration (135-140 days) rice and 5-6 t per ha for mid early duration (125-130 days ) and 5 t for short duration. The paddy yield in rainfed situation mainly depends upon Monsoon rains. If monsoon is well distributed through out the crop season then yield may increase up to 4-5 t per ha, but generally monsoon rains are poorly distributed and less than normal (1400 mm) , therefore yields of paddy is hardily touch the national average yield up to about 2.8 to 3.0 t per ha. Yields of summer rice is more than Kharif rice due to more availability of solar radiation, less weeds infestation, low incidence of insect and diseases.