Rice Straw

Composting is an alternative for recycling agricultural residues and sewage sludge, and the end pro- duct can be used as fertilizer for land application. In order to study the composting process with sludge from water sewage treatment plants and rice straw, environmental factors should be controlled. The aim of our study was to investigate the optimum C/N ratio, moisture and pH to maximize microbial activity. The incubation of sewage sludge and rice straw mixtures were conducted using an experiment design with three different C/N ratios (17, 24 and 41), moistures (40, 60 and 70 %) and pH (5.65, 6.65 and 8.75). The micro- bial activity was measured as manometric measurement of oxygen consumption. The enhancement of microbial activity is induced by low C/N ratio, high moisture content, and pH basic. Our results suggest that the initial blend with these raw materials must be about 17 C/N ratio, while moisture content must be between 60 % and the pH 8.75 in the composting process.

The elite anaerobic fungal cultures Neocallimastix sp GR-1, Piromyces sp WNG-12 and Orpinomyces sp C-14 were isolated from wild blue bull and cattle respectively of grazing and browsing goat. Attempts were made to grow these cultures in normal media or using stress conditions by keeping them at lower or higher temperature than 39oc or using a complex media; Normal media produced maximum number of fungal zoospores after 120 hrs of incubation. The in- vitro dry matter, acid detergent fibre, neutral detergent fibre digestibility were studied using fresh zoospores; or those being kept at normal; lower or higher temperature than 39oC. Based on in vitro digestibility of DM, NDF and ADF of wheat straw and wheat straw based total mixed rations. The Neocallimastix sp GR-1was found better as compared to Piromyces sp WNG-12 and Orpinomyces sp C-14as this anaerobic fungi produced maximum numbers of zoospores and also proved to be best performing for its ability to degrade lignified feed material.

Burning of rice straw is a common practice in northwest India, where rice–wheat cropping system is extensively followed. The practice results in loss of nutrients, atmospheric pollution and emission of greenhouse gases. A field experiment was conducted at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India during the rabi season (November to April) of 2002–2003 to evaluate the efficacy of the various modes of rice straw recycling in soil in improving yield and soil fertility and reducing not only carbon dioxide emission but also nitrous oxide (N2O) emission. The treatment with no rice straw incorporation and application of recommended doses of fertilizer (120, 26 and 50 kg N, P and K ha−1, respectively), gave the highest yield of wheat. Treatments with the incorporation of rice straw at 5 Mg ha−1 with additional amount of inorganic N (60 kg N ha−1) or inoculation of microbial culture had similar grain yields to that of the treatment with no straw incorporation. The lowest yield was recorded in the plots where rice straw was incorporated in soil without additional inorganic N and with manure application. All the treatments with rice straw incorporation had larger soil organic C despite the effect on the mineralisation of soil organic matter. Emission of N2O was more when additional N was added with rice straw and secondary when straw was added to the soil because of higher microbial activity. The study showed that burning of rice straw could be avoided without affecting yield of wheat crop by incorporating rice straw in soil with an additional dose of inorganic N or microbial inoculation. However, the reduction of N2O emission due to avoiding burning is in part counterbalanced by an increase in emission during the subsequent wheat cultivation.

MSc. Thesis by Saja I. Abid, supervised by Prof. Dr. Ali A. Saeed
Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the possibility of improving nutritive value of rice straw by ensiling and to make use of desired taste of good quality silage. In addition to possibility of improving chemical composition by addition of urea and ruminant manure. Samples of rice straw silage were prepared in nutrition laboratory of Animal Production Department-College of Agriculture- Alqasim Green University. Straw was chopped manually to 1-2 cm and treated with treatment solution.  This solution was prepared by addition of 10% of low quality date honey as a source of soluble carbohydrates and commercial urea as a source of non-protein nitrogen at rate of 2%. Manure was used to substitute different ratios of urea on basis of nitrogen content. Accordingly 6 combinations were formed of urea: manure, 100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40 and 50:50. Treatment solution was diluted with estimated quantity of water to adjust dry matter content to about 40%. Silage components were packed in double plastic bags which were well compressed to exclude air and were tightly closed and stored underground for 60 days.
Results revealed that samples of rice straw silage prepared by addition of sheep manure were characterized with lower (P˂0.01) dry matter loss as compared with other samples. Samples prepared with cow manure recorded higher (P˂0.01) crude protein content as compared with those treated with sheep and buffalo manure, 3.59, 3.44 and 3.26% respectively. Increase protein content was noticed in all samples prepared with addition of manure as compared with samples prepared with addition of urea only (combination 100:0). Regarding cell wall components, samples prepared by addition of sheep manure recorded (P˂0.01) lower content of acid detergent fiber (39.98%), and higher (P˂0.01) content of hemicellulose as compared with samples prepared by addition of cow and buffalo manure, 74.45, 74.31 and 72.50% respectively. Reduction (P˂0.01) in content of acid detergent fiber and cellulose was recorded with combinations of 50:50, 60:40 and 70:30 in comparison with other combinations. Increase (P˂0.01) in hemicellulose and lignin was recorded with increasing level of manure in studied combination. Results of current study revealed different trend in neutral detergent fiber, lower values (P˂0.05) were associated with samples prepared with combination of 70:30 of urea: manure.
Regarding parameters of silage fermentation, results showed improvement due to addition of sheep manure as evidenced by reduction in pH values and concentration of ammonia nitrogen (5.04 and 0.642) as compared with values of samples prepared by addition of cow manure (5.17 and 0.679) and buffalo (5.31 and 0.682 g/100 g total nitrogen).  Samples prepared with addition of cow manure were characterized with higher (P˂0.01) concentration of total vaporized fatty acids. Reduction (P˂0.01) in pH was noticed with increasing level of manure as compared with combination of 100:0 which recorded higher (P˂0.01) value (6.16) and higher (P˂0.01) concentration of ammonia nitrogen as well. Samples prepared with combinations of 70:30, 60:40 and 50:50 were characterized with higher (P˂0.01) concentration of total vaporized fatty acids, 1.994, 2.126 and 2.018 % of dry matter respectively.
In microbial evaluation, samples prepared by addition of buffalo manure were characterized with lower (P˂0.01) number of yeasts, molds, aerobic bacteria, 4.46, 3.62 and 5.84, beside higher (P˂0.01) number of lactic acid bacteria. Lower number of these microbes and anaerobic bacteria were recorded in samples prepared with combination of 100:0 of urea: manure.                     
Concerning quality parameters, samples prepared by addition of sheep and cow manure recorded higher (P˂0.01) Fleig points as compared with those prepared by addition of buffalo manure, 60/42, 55.58 and 49.59 respectively.  Reduction (P˂0.01) in this parameter was noticed in samples prepared with combination of 100:0. Regarding aerobic stability, results revealed that there was a reduction (P˂0.01) in samples prepared by addition of sheep manure by 15 and 13 hours in comparison with samples prepared by addition of cow and buffalo manure respectively. Samples prepared with combination of 100:0 were prior (P˂0.01) as compared with other samples. Results also showed increase (P˂0.01) in in vitro digestibility of organic matter in samples prepared by addition of sheep manure in comparison with samples prepared by addition of cow and buffalo manure, 49.99, 44.59 and 42.77% respectively. Samples prepared with combination of 100:0 recorded lower (P˂0.05) decrease in in vitro digestibility of dry matter as compared with combinations of 70:30 and 60:40 of urea: manure, 40.52, 45.36 and 45.94% respectively. All silage samples recorded different improvement in in vitro digestibility of organic matter as compared with straw pre-ensiling. However, better values (P˂0.01) were achieved in combinations of 50:50 and 60:40 (46.82 and 46.78% respectively).

Straw, as a fiber, has been used as part of building materials for several thousand years. With the invention of the mechanical baler in the early 1900's it became possible for compressed straw to be used as the primary building block of exterior building walls. Although strawbale (SB) houses were popular for a short while in a local area of Nebraska, they lost favor for nearly half a century. There has recently been a rebirth in SB house construction and interest. In many cases the interest stems from the highly insulating, simple, and sustainable nature of SB walls. Although there is a large and growing body of empirical evidence that strawbale buildings can be used very successfully, the scientific justification and explanation is lacking, and hence accepted engineering approaches to design, testing, and inspection have not been well developed. To support the growing volume of rice straw agricultural waste the State of California supported a research program to improve the le...

Bagasse, corn cob, and rice straw agricultural wastes were found to consist of 37, 39 and 34% cellulose and 24, 41 and 22% hemicellulose, respectively, on a dry solid (w/w) basis and thus have the potential to serve as a low cost foodstock for ethanol production. Hydrolysates produced by dilute-acid pretreatment followed by cellulase digestion were evaluated as substrates for ethanol fermentation bySaccharomyces cerevisiae. After pretreatment by 141 mM sulphuric acid, bagasse waste released glucose (134 mg/g) at a higher level than that from corn cob (75 mg/g) and rice straw (8 mg/g). Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) levels derived from acid pretreatment of bagasse (1.5 g/l), but not corn cob (0.8 g/l) or rice straw (0.1 g/l) attained levels likely to be toxic (1.5 g/l) forS. cerevisiae growth and ethanol fermentation rates. All three agricultural wastes released likely non-toxic levels of furfural (<0.5 g/l) and lactic acid (negligible for bagasse and rice straw and 0.7 g/l for corn cob). After cellulase saccharification of the dilute-acid pretreated agricultural wastes, the glucose content of corn cob hydrolysates (13 ± 0.17 g/l) was marginally higher than that of bagasse (12 ±0.27 g/l) or rice straw (11 ± 0.07 g/l), yet the ethanol conversion yield byS. cerevisiae on corn cob hydrolysate (0.45 ± 0.006 g/g) was lower than that attained with bagasse hydrolysate (0.49 ± 0.007 g/g). Synergistic adverse effects between furfural and HMF with weak acids, or other lignin derived products in the corn cob hydrolysate are proposed as the effective inhibitor (s) for ethanol fermentation byS. cerevisiae.

The influence of soda ratio on pulp properties was used as a guideline for calcn. of the min. dose of chems. for producing bleached pulps for writing and printing papers. Pulps obtained by the shortcycle pressure method were compared with those from a pressureless method. The short method produced pulps of higher screened yield, better opacity, brightness stability, and higher bulk more efficiently than the pressureles method. The strength characteristics were approx. the same for the 2 methods. In-creasing the pulping chem. ratio to >9% NaOH did not increase the delignification rate although bleachability was improved by ≤13% NaOH.

Take a moment and look around you. You will see that there are a lot of things made out of paper. Paper is used for various purposes in our everyday lives, but these papers destroy the environment, the problem came from us as humans are the only creature who cuts the trees, made paper, and then wrote "SAVE TREES" on it. Do you know that one ton of sheets destruct 17 trees, deforest eight cubic feet and consume 26.281 Liter of fresh water and 4077 kilowatts per hour?!  To prevent this misbehave, we made system depends on agricultural residues (rice straw and bagasse) in its paper production with the recovery process to reuse water, chemicals and energy. The quality of this solution is reflected in achieving our design requirements which are: efficiency, cost, availability, safety, area efficient, reliability, eco-friendly and testability. In order to achieve these design requirements, we constructed a prototype to show our idea. We made a container with mixer to reflect the function of a digester. Later on we tested the efficiency and the environmental impact, then got positive result as we produced pulp with efficiency increased to 78.4% and made the recovery process with total efficiency increased to 92.85%. Finally, we conclude that our solution is successful and it can solve paper industry problems which affect other grand challenges in Egypt. As our solution provides pulp without destroying the forests, with no risky by-product to the environment, has low cost, low energy consumption and efficient area.

The surplus availability of rice straw, its limited usage, and environmental pollution caused by its ineffi cient burning has fostered research for its valorization to biofuels. This review elucidates the current status of rice straw potential around the globe along with recent advances in revealing the critical factors responsible for its recalcitrance and chemical properties. The role and accumulation of high silica content in rice straw has been elucidated with its impact on enzymatic hydrolysis in a biorefi nery environment. The correlation of different pre-treatment approaches in modifying the physi-ochemical properties of rice straw and improving the enzymatic accessibility has also been discussed. This study highlights new challenges, resolutions, and opportunities for rice straw based biorefi neries.

ABSTRACT
Lettuce is one of the widely used salad vegetables in Egypt and the world. However, there is a dearth of
information pertaining to organic lettuce production. An experiment was conducted in the experimental Farm of
Arid Land Agricultural Research and Service Center (ALARC), Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University,
Egypt to assess the effect of compost and compost tea on organic production of head lettuce grown in sandy
soil. The head lettuce seedlings cultivar Chianti were planted in sandy soil during mid of October 2011 and
2012. Four rates of compost (50, 75, 100 and 125% as recommended dose of nitrogen) with and without
addition of compost tea were investigated on yield, quality and minerals content of head lettuce comparing to
mineral fertilizer (control). The results showed that the rates of compost 75, 100 and 125 % with addition of
compost tea gave significant superiority in growth, yield and some of head lettuce quality compared to control.
Compost rates of 100% and 125% with added compost tea gave the highest content of macronutrients (N, P, K)
and micronutrients (Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu). All rates of compost with or without compost tea reduced nitrate content
in lettuce heads. Using 100 and 125% compost with or without added compost tea increased the heavy metal
contents in the lettuce heads, but still less than the critical limits in normal vegetables. It is recommended that
organic production of head lettuce in sandy soil can be performed successfully using rate of 75 or 100% of
compost with addition of compost tea to get high yield and quality with low nitrate content of head lettuce.

Rice straw causes many environmental problems in different world countries. In Egypt, every year, rice straw causes severe environmental pollution in terms of black clouds caused by burning process. In this study, Egyptian rice straw was used as a reinforcement material in polymer composites. Rice-straw/epoxy [RS/E] and glass-fiber/rice-straw/epoxy hybrid [G/RS/E] composites were studied. Pure epoxy [E] and glass-fiber/epoxy [G/E] specimens were also fabricated for comparison purpose. Composite plates were fabricated by hand lay-up technique in a mold and cured under light pressure for 24 hr, followed by curing at room temperature for 21 days. All composites plates were made with a total weight of 960 grams and dimension of 400 x 400 mm with different thickness by varying the weight fraction of the constituent materials. Tensile strength, tensile modulus, bending strength, bending modulus and compressive strength were determined experimentally. Failure modes of all specimens were investigated. RÉSUMÉ La paille de riz provoque de nombreux problèmes environnementaux dans les différents pays du monde. En Egypte, chaque année , de la paille de riz provoque rompre pollution de l'environnement en termes de nuages noirs causés par les processus de combustion. Dans cette étude , la paille de riz égyptien a été utilisé comme matériau de renforcement dans les composites polymères. Rice-straw/epoxy [RS / E] et glass-fiber/rice-straw/epoxy hybrides [g / RS / E] composites ont été étudiés. Pur époxy [E] et glass-fiber/epoxy [G / E] spécimens ont également été fabriqués à des fins de comparaison. Des planches composites ont été fabriqués à la main technique mise en place dans un moule et durcis sous une légère pression pendant 24 h , suivie d'un durcissement à température ambiante pendant 21 jours. Toutes les plaques composites ont été réalisées avec un poids total de 960 grammes et la dimension de 400 x 400 mm avec une épaisseur différente en faisant varier la fraction de poids des matériaux constitutifs. Résistance à la traction, le module de traction, résistance à la flexion , module de flexion et à la compression ont été déterminées expérimentalement. Les modes de défaillance de tous les échantillons ont été étudiés.

This study was designed to determine effect of various plant protein sources in high-quality feed block (HQFB) on feed intake, rumen fermentation, and microbial population in swamp buffalo. Four rumen-fistulated swamp buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) were randomly assigned according to a 4 × 4 Latin square design. Four kinds of plant protein sources (coarse rice bran (CRB), cassava hay (CH), Phaseolus calcaratus hay, and mulberry hay (MH)) were mixed in the HQFB. HQFBs were allowed to be licked at free choice, and urea–lime-treated rice straw (ULRS) were fed ad libitum. It was found that bacterial population and fungal zoospores in CH-fed group tended to be higher than those in other groups. Moreover, protozoal population in CH, P. calcaratus hay, and MH were lower than those in CRB supplemented group (P < 0.05). Cellulolytic bacterial population was highest in CH-fed group while proteolytic bacteria population was highest in P. calcaratus hay-fed group (P < 0.05). CH-fed group had higher ULRS intake than those in other groups (P < 0.05). Nutrient digestibility of CP, NDF, and ADF in CH-fed group was significantly higher than those in other groups (P < 0.05). Total VFA was highest in CH-fed group (P < 0.05). N absorption was highest in CH-fed group (P < 0.05). Based on this study, it could be concluded that cassava hay, P. calcaratus hay, and mulberry hay are potential to be used as protein sources in the HQFBs especially cassava hay.

Carbonaceous sorbent from rice-straw that can be used as adsorbents for
the purification of water were prepared and evaluated. Effects of charring
temperature and activation of charring rice straw by acid and alkali on
textural and adsorption were investigated. The adsorptive capacities of
charring rice straws were measured by Pb ion adsorption. The charring
was characterized by electronmicroscope (SEM) and IR spectrum; roundshaped
and porous structures were formed by activation.