Optimal Stage of Harvesting Rice

Abstract

Timing of the harvest is very im-portant for achieving maximum yield and quality of rice; too early a harvest reduces the yield due to the presence of more of ill-filled grains and too late a harvest results in field losses. Tro-pical rice varieties are usually harves-ted 30 to 35 days after flowering; but in cooler climates rices may ripen for up to 60 days (Juliano, 1972) as the environmental conditions affect the rate of starch and protein deposition in the developing grains. (Ebata and Nagata 1967). With the aim of critically. assessing the correct physiological maturity stage of different rice varieties in Cauvery delta, trials with Adt 31. Adt 34, IR 20, IR 34, Adt 36. Asd 15 and Ponni in kuruvai and Co 25 and Co 40 varieties in thadal in 1979 and 1980 in the fields of the Paddy Experi-ment Station, Aduthuri following the recommended cultural practices were taken up. Though different harvest indices have from time to time been propounded (Pillaiyar, 1979) the stage of the crop after general flowering (G. F) has been taken inte consideration in this study. Individual paniolos waro labelled on the respective dates of flowering, unopened spikelets removed and the grain samples (developed and developing grain) collected at 5 days interval up to 20th day of flowering and subsequently on every day up to 30th day of flowering for determining 100-grain weight (dry basis) and mois-ture content. The moisture content was determined by drying the samples in hot air oven at 105±1°C for 24 hr.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.29321/MAJ.10.003245

Pages

412 - 416

Creative Commons

Copyright

© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Madras Agricultural Students' Union in Madras Agricultural Journal (MAJ). This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited by the user.

Keywords