Jie Xu^1,2

1 Huangcunqiao Village Committee, Jiangjia Town, Chun'an County, Chun'an 311722, Zhejiang, China
2 Zhejiang Agronomist College, Hangzhou, 310021, Zhejiang, China
Author    Correspondence author
Genomics and Applied Biology, 2026, Vol. 17, No. 1   
Received: 18 Dec., 2025    Accepted: 20 Jan., 2026    Published: 16 Feb., 2026

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

After the rice is harvested, reducing its moisture content has always been a problem that farmers cannot avoid. The common methods are spreading it out to dry in the sun or using a dryer. Both methods have their own drawbacks: when the weather is good, sun-drying saves electricity and money, but in case of rain or overcast days, the risk of moisture return and mold increases, and the quality is not very stable. In contrast, mechanical drying is faster and more uniform in removing moisture, resulting in a higher proportion of whole grains, less broken grains, and better stickiness and elasticity of the cooked rice. However, excessive high temperatures should not be pursued as it may increase the fatty acid value and affect the taste. From a cost perspective, although mechanical drying is more efficient, it consumes more energy, and may not be cost-effective for small-scale farmers. In practice, it is necessary to consider one's own conditions, avoid overly high temperatures, and frequently turn the rice when sun-drying to ensure both efficiency and quality.

Rice drying; Natural sun-drying; Mechanical drying; Quality evaluation; Sensory quality