Nitrogen and fumigation of rice and seeds

     Amid concerns about the safety of Thai rice due to concerns about the dangers of residues of substances used in the production of bags of rice National Innovation Agency (Public Organization) together with a private company, Siam Water Flame (Siam water Flame) revealed the results of a new research system that uses nitrogen gas is expected to be a new alternative to obtain rice that is safe to the hands of general consumers.

Traditionally, there were three methods of eliminating weevils and beetles in rice:

1. Chemical use of methyl bromide to be banned by 2015, in accordance with the Montreal Protocol on the reduction and elimination of substances that destroy the ozone layer. that requires 177 member countries to take action to reduce and stop using methyl bromide It requires developed countries to be phased out by 2005. Developing countries are waived and must be phased out by 2015.

2. It is a chemical phosphine or aluminum phosphide that is becoming popular for conventional rice due to its low cost and quick disposal.

3. Increasing the amount of carbon dioxide causing the living beings to lose food, exhausted, lose consciousness and die on their own. But this method has a higher disposal cost than other methods. It takes about 15 days. The requirements for organic rice production require this method. because no chemicals are used in the production process This time a new method has been added. which is the work of the National Innovation Agency (Public Organization) sponsored funds for Siam Waterflame Company Limited to develop a new system for the company. Nakhon Luang Rice Trading Co., Ltd. is used to produce organic rice for export. with the Department of Agriculture as a participant in researching and analyzing the results of testing the efficiency of the new system

The newly developed system occurred under Nitrogen Gas Moth and Weevil Removal System Project, which has lower cost of disposal than CO2 and faster time than before. It is also suitable for use with organic rice as well.

The new method of eliminating moths comes from the idea that The air around us contains 77% nitrogen gas, 21% oxygen gas, the rest is other gases. Living things need oxygen gas to breathe. Therefore, if there is a very low level of oxygen gas Living things will begin to breathe faster and eventually die.

The new system developed therefore has a working process by sucking the air in the room where the rice is stored through the oxygen absorber and releasing the remaining gas back to the storage room again. This process takes about 6-8 hours.

Make the oxygen content less than 0.5%, then leave it at this proportion. This will result in the death of the starch weevil and the rice weevil within 7 days, with the adults dying first. And followed by the larvae, eggs and pupa, respectively, in which the chrysalis stage to embed itself into the grain and create a web around itself is the hardest to die.

In addition to having advantages as a safe method because of natural air modification Nitrogen gas is an inert, harmless gas. It does not react with other elements and does not use chemicals anymore. It’s also a cheaper method.

The gas cost is approximately 10 baht per tonne compared to the 110 baht per tonne cost of using carbon dioxide. It is expected that the new system will benefit both the general rice consumers and rice exporters. of the country’s organic Thailand exports 5,966 tons of rice per year, totaling approximately 243 million baht from the total domestic production of organic rice of about 69,000 tons, with an average yield of 500 kilograms per rai.