Effect of Milling Quality and Hardness of Parboiled Paddy under Microwave Drying

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of bed thickness (1.5, 3, 4.5 and 6 cm) and microwave power level (180, 360, 540 and 720 W) on milling quality and of parboiled paddy under microwave drying. Major factor to reduce the head yield was observed increasing drying rate with increasing microwave power. Head yield varied from 47.9 to 70.3% within a variance of 1% significance. The Hardness of parboiled rice varied from 17692.3-13790.2 g/mm2, depending upon the microwave power treatment and bed thickness at 1% level of significance. Highest hardness was observed at low microwave power and lower bed thickness.