Straw

Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed.

Straw bales may be square, rectangular, star shaped or round, and can be very large, depending on the type of baler used.

The heat generated when microorganisms in a herbivore's gut digest straw can be useful in maintaining body temperature in cold climates.

It may be used as bedding and food for small animals, but this often leads to injuries to mouth, nose and eyes as straw is quite sharp.

Rice straw, an agricultural waste which is not usually recovered, can be turned into bioplastic with mechanical properties akin to polystyrene in its dry state.

[1] Straw is being investigated as a source of fine chemicals including alkaloids, flavonoids, lignins, phenols, and steroids.

For these reasons, straw bale construction is gaining popularity as part of passive solar and other renewable energy projects.

Strawblocks are strawbales that have been recompressed to the density of woodblocks, for compact cargo container shipment, or for straw-bale construction of load-bearing walls that support roof-loads, such as a "living" or green roofs.

Straw, processed first as briquettes, has been fed into a biogas plant in Aarhus University, Denmark, in a test to see if higher gas yields could be attained.

Finally, torrefaction of straw with pelletisation is gaining attention, because it increases the energy density of the resource, making it possible to transport it still further.

Many thousands of women and children in England (primarily in the Luton district of Bedfordshire),[11] and large numbers in the United States (mostly Massachusetts), were employed in plaiting straw for making hats.

In Japan, certain trees are wrapped with straw to protect them from the effects of a hard winter as well as to use them as a trap for parasite insects.

In some parts of Germany like Black Forest and Hunsrück people wear straw shoes at home or at carnival.

Thatching uses straw, reed or similar materials to make a waterproof, lightweight roof with good insulation properties.

Dried straw presents a fire hazard that can ignite easily if exposed to sparks or an open flame.