Pakistan J. Agtie. Res, Vol. 2, No.1, 1981 EFFECT OF HARVESTING TIME AND DRYING METHOD ON PADDY YIELD AND MILLING QUALITY IN DIFFERENT VARIETIES Abdul Malik, Abdul Majid* and Saeed Ahmad** ABSTRACT: The effect of harvesting time on moisture content and paddy yield, milling " ity, and head rice recovery, vis a vis, two drying methods including mechanical and sun dryi ‘were studied, The time taken to attain optimum moisture level at harvest (22-23 pereent) varied with the variety. The varieties’ Basmati 370’ and ‘IR6-945' attained this level when harvested 32-34 days after Gowering, while the variety Basmati-198 took 40 days. The former two varieties yielded the maximum when harvested 34 days after flowering and the latter when harvested 40 days after The mechanical method of drying was superior to sun drying and yielded about two percent niore milling recovery and six percent more head rive recovery. The milling recovery and the head rice recovery were the highest when crop was harvested 34, 24 and 40 days after flowering, in ease of ‘arietes Basmati 370; IR6-945 and‘Basmat-90, respectively, INTRODUCTION A slight deviation from the optimum time of harvesting, as well as the method of drying, seriously affect paddy yields and the milling recovery. The current study was, therefore, undertaken to determine the optimum harvesting time for different varie- ties and the best method of drying paddy for obtaining maximum yields and head rice recovery. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ‘Neal (1950) conducted experiments for three years on three long grained and one medium grained rice varieties to determine their optimum time of harvest and milling quality. He reported that each variety gave maximum yield when harvested at 19~22 percent moisture content and the crop harvested at this moisture level gave maximum head rice and the lowest broken rice recovery. In a similar study Ten Have (1961) while determining optimum time of harvest of seven varieties pointed out that * — Rice Research Institute, Kala Shah Kaku. ** Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Islamabad. each variety gave maximum paddy and milling yield when harvested at 19.5 percent moisture content. Bhol and Rao (1969) also carried out studies to determine optimum. time of harvest of 4 varieties and reported that maximum harvest (converted to 14 percent) was obtained when paddy was harvested at 20-23 percent moisture content and the yield decreased significantly when harvesting was done at 14~15 percent moisture content. The crop harvested at optimum moisture content also gave maximum total yield and head rice recovery. Kuiper (1971) also concluded in such studies that the crop was considered fully matured when moisture content in paddy was 19-21 percent. He also reported that decrease in moisture by one percent from the optimum caused to increase the broken rice by two percent, Dobel Mann (1955) worked on Vietnamy varieties to find out their optimum time of harvest from number of days after flowering. He reported that crop was considered fit for harvesting on 32 days after flowering. The harvest at this time gave maximum paddy and milling yields. Coyaud (1950) studied the effect ofdifferent methods of drying viz.. mechanical drving and natural drying on milling quality of paddy. He reported that different methods of drying gave minimum differences in milling quality of over-ripened paddy. Bhol (1969) in a similar study pointed out that paddy harvested at higher moisture level gave better milling results under mechanical drying than sun drying, but the differences in milling quality, etc., decreased when paddy harvested at lower moisture content, was dried by two methods. He concluded that mechanical drying was superior to sun drying. Angladette also reported that artificial drying was superior to natural drying when initial moisture content of the paddy was higher. Breese (1964) observed. that harvest ing before the crop was mature usually produced a lower yield and a higher propor- tion of immature seed which deteriorated more rapidly and also gave lower milling yield. MATERIALS AND METHODS. The research work was conducted at the Rice Research Institute, Kala Shah Kaku, during the year 1974 and 1975, Three commer- cial varieties viz., ‘Basmati 370’, ‘Basmati 198° and TR6-945 were included in the study. ‘These varieties were planted under optimum agronomic practices during the Ist week of July, each year. The flowering date in case of each variety was recorded for subjecting to 12 harvesting treatments commencing from 18 through 40 days after flowering on alternate day of interval. The produce under each treat- ment was dri to 10 percent moisture content (optimum for milling) by two difte- rent methods viz,,sun drying and mechanical drying. In each case, paddy was dried in 3 to 4 passes at 50C for 30 minutes. After each pass paddy was tempered for 4 to 6 hours. The observations on moisture content, paddy yield, total milling yield, head rice and broken rice recovery were recorded. The test equip- ment used in this tiral was sickle, paddle thresher, Burrow moisture meter, Metler P 10, Kawasaki mechanical drier, MC Gill sheller, MC Gill miller and Burrow rice grader. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The effect of the time of harvest on moisture content and paddy yield; milling quality; and head rice recovery is discussed separately. Moisture Content and Paddy Yield The results obtained during 1974 (Table 1) showed that moisture content in case of each variety viz,, Basmati 370, Basmati 198° and“IR6-945 decreased gradually from 35.0 percent each at harvest on 18 days after flowering to 14.5, 22.0 and 15.0 percent, respectively, at harvest on 40 days after flowering. The maximum paddy yield of 3330, 3330 and 4910 kg per hectare was given by ‘Basmati 370’, ‘Basmati 198’ and “IR6-945" when harvested at 34, 40 and 34 days after flowering, respectively The moisture content decreased with advancement harvesting time. However, at the maximum yield level it was almost the same in each variety (22 to 23 percent), but the time to attain this moisture level was different in different varieties. The results were in conformity with Neal (1950) Ten Have (1961), Bhol Rao (1969) and Kuiper (1971) who reported that optimum moisture content in paddy should range between 19 and 23 percent at harvest to obtain high yields.Table 1. Effect of harvesting time on moisture content and paddy yield of different varieties Moisture Content (7) Padidy yield kg/ha (14% moisture) Mean Treatment * Bas. 370 Bas. 198 IR6-945 Bas. 370 Bas. 198 IR6-945 Moisture Yield Tl 18DAF 35.0 35.0 35.0 2800 1800 3940 35.0 (2846.6 T2 20DAF 33.5 35.0 35.0 2680 2020 4060 34.5 2920.0 13) 22 DAW 815) 3101 92.0. 3010) 2040| | 41701 p25) 80788 T4 24DAF 30.0 32.5 = 30.0 3080 2100 4150 30.8 + -3110.0 TS 26DAF 29.0 31.0 28.5 = 2880-2130 4240 29.5 3083.3 Té6 28DAF 275 30.0 27.5 3190 2120 4140 283 3150.0 TT 30DAF 27.0 28.0 26.0 3090-2060 4060» -27.0 3070.0 TS 32DAF 255 265 250 3070 2070 4290 256 3143.3 TO S4DAF 220 255 300 3330 2170 4910 23.5 3470.0 TIO36DAF 180 245 200 3050 2660 4220 208 33100 TLLS8DAF (165 24.0 17.0 2780 3100 3890 19.1 3256.6 TI240DAF 145 220 150 2220 3330 «3170S «17.1 2906.6 Average 25.83 29.00 26.16 2931.66 2300 4103.33 26.95 Cdl for variety x treatment Cdl for treatments Cai for varieties ‘The results are highly significant. * Days after flowering. Milling Yield The paddy from different treatments was subjected to milling test after drying by two methods including, sun drying and mechanical drying. The data revealed that in all varieties the lowest recovery was obtained in case of both the drying methods when harvesting was done 18 days after flowering (Table 2). The recovery improved with the advancement in harvesting time till the optimum moisture content (22-23 per- cent) was obtained. In case of ‘Basmati 370° and ‘TR6-945' harvesting after 34 days after flowering gave the maximum total milling recovery under both the methods. In case of Basmati 198, total milling recovery increased upto 40 days after flowering. These data were 3111.64 2.24 Cd2 for variety x treatment 3.02 1.28 Cd2 for treatments 1.73 0.66 Cd? for varieties 0.89 in agreement with the findings of Dobel ‘Mann (1955) who obtained high paddy yield and milling recovery in Vietnamy varieties when harvested 32 days after flowering. The difference of two days in harvesting time in the current study may be due to the different. varieties ‘The treatment mean (Table 2) showed that about two percent higher recovery was obtained by the method of mechanical drying as compared to sun drying. This was in line with the findings of Bhal (1969), Head Rice Recovery ‘The head rice recovery was worked out under both he methods of drying viz.,sun