Moisture Determination is the most critical factor storing and processing seed and gain The cheapest commercial grain moisture meter cost approximately $200 and is too expensive for most farmers and rice millers in developing countries.

Giving farmers and millers cheaper alternative in measuring moisture of grains can Improve the drying and the milling at 14% M.C.

The need for a low cost moisture meter as a tool to improve milled rice quality was a challenge to Agricultural Engineering Unit or IRRI. A resistance type moisture meter was developedwith an accuracy of +/- 1%.

The accuracy of the IRRI moisture meter and two commerially made meters were compared. The moisture range considered in the test was 12 to 16 percent. Air oven-dry method was used as standard basis for moisture determination.

For three replicated, three moisture levels of paddy
(12%, 14% and 16% dry basis) were obtained. For each moisture meter, grains were randomly sampled a hundred times for moisture determination. Four, 10-gram samples were obtained for the air oven dry method (one replicate). Also, electrical resistance of the grains were measured using a digital multimeter

Moisture meter $200