Autumn is the season of harvest when most of the crops are ripe, including rice.

Rice is one of the most important food crops for humans and is an important cereal widely grown in tropical Asia, with a fairly long history of both cultivation and consumption. Rice is distributed mainly in Asia, southern Europe, and parts of tropical America and Africa.

The optimal harvesting period for rice should depend on the growth of the seeds, which are ready to be harvested when the seed grains are at their most saturated state of development.

This is the time when the rice ears absorb the most nutrients and have the greatest grain weight. And the water content is not too high, which is conducive to the later storage of rice.

When rice is harvested on a large scale, it is usually harvested mechanically using machinery such as rice harvesters, and when it is harvested on a small scale, it is usually harvested manually using tools such as scythes.

Rice as a plant is divided into three varieties: early, middle, and late rice. The maturity time varies from variety to variety, with early rice maturing in July, middle rice in September, and late rice in early October.

When the rice is ripe, more than 95% of the husk will turn yellow and the rice will start to harden and finally appear transparent, which is the best time to harvest rice.

Main values

1. More than half of the world's population uses rice as their main food source.

The protein content of rice is 7% to 13%, which is a hypoallergenic protein with high digestibility and absorption rate, making it ideal for children.

Rice has a high carbohydrate content of about 75%, mainly starch, of which straight-chain starch accounts for 20% to 25% and branched-chain starch accounts for 75% to 80%, which is the main source of caloric energy for the human body.

Rice is also rich in phosphorus, calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, and other elements and is an important source of mineral elements for the human body.

2. Rice bran is the husk of a rice grain, it is an important source of animal feed and is also used as a construction material. Many Asian countrysides have rice bran as the traditional building material.

In modern society, rice bran is also tried in the cement mix, or used to produce calcium phytate, inositol.

3. Rice straw is also another quite distinctive economic by-product with quite many uses.

It can be used for livestock such as cattle and sheep. In the early days, many houses were also roofed with straw. Craft products made from straw are also quite common, such as straw mats and straw hats.

Scarecrows wearing hats to scare off birds are also common in rice fields.