Whole black beans were heat treated for 2, 5 and 10 mm at 121°C and 10, 20 and 30 mm under steam (98°C). Heat treatments did not affect the physical appearance of the grams but significantly (P < 0.05) decreased the development of the hard-tocook phenomenon in seeds stored at 25°C and 70% RH for 9 months. After 9 months of storage no significant difference (P < 0.05) was found between hardness of cooked beans subjected to the shortest heat treatments and control samples kept at 4°C. Nitrogen solubility in O.OlN NaOH increased significantly (P < 0.05) in all samples as well as solubility in 5% KC1 except in samples subjected to the longer heat treatments. Water absorption of the beans was favored by the heat treatments evaluated A high corre lation (r = 0.91) was found between the cooked beans hardness value and the lignified protein content of the cotyledon.

Abstract:The eddy covariance technique was used to measure surface energy balance and evapotranspiration in a double-cropping paddy field in Mymensingh, northern Bangladesh (24Ð73°N, 90Ð42°E, 18 m above sea level). Because irrigation in dry season and frequent rainfall in the summer monsoon season kept the field flooded most of the year, most of the radiant energy was converted to latent heat flux except for the drained fallow period in winter. The ratio of the latent heat flux to the available energy, or evaporative fraction (EF ), was 71-74% on average for two growing seasons and the flooded summer fallow period in rainy season. The evapotranspiration rate (ET ) ranged from 0Ð2 to 6Ð6 mm d 1 . The seasonal accumulated ET from transplanting to harvest in dry-season rice (Boro rice) and wet-season rice (Aman rice) was 370 and 307 mm with seasonal average of 3Ð3 and 2Ð9 mm d 1 , respectively. In addition, 283 mm was lost as ET during the flooded summer fallow period, which characterized the seasonal variation of ET in this study site. The canopy conductance (G c ) showed a wide range from 1Ð0 to 20Ð2 mm s 1 , but larger G c values were found at higher leaf area index (LAI) periods for both Boro and Aman rice. G c was closely related to the ratio of ET to equilibrium evaporation (E eq ), suggesting seasonal variability of ET is control by E eq and G c . Partitioning of ET by applying an empirical equation indicated that about 70 and 64% of seasonal ET came from transpiration in the Boro rice and the Aman rice, respectively.

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Field experiments were conducted on soybean (Glycin max L.) in summer and potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) in autumn to evaluate the effect of row orientations of crops on some selected micrometeorological factors during 1994 and 1995.