EFFECT OF HARVEST TIME AND DRYING METHOD ON QUALITY AND GRADE OF IRRIGATED SOFT WHITE SPRING WHEAT

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Abstract
The soft spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars Dirkwin and Fielder, and the hard red spring wheat cultivar Neepawa were grown under irrigation for 2 yr. Plots were harvested at seven kernel moisture contents (KMC) in the 45–15% moisture range. Material was dried in the field (windrowed) or artificially dried in a forced-air oven at 50 °C after threshing. Yield, test weight, 100-kernel weight, grain N, falling number and commercial grade were determined. Yield and grain N content were not affected by cutting time or drying method. Test weight of artificially dried material increased as cutting was delayed until lower KMC values were reached. In the windrowed treatment, test weight of Neepawa changed very little with cutting time, while that of Dirkwin and Fielder increased to a maximum at 25% KMC. The 1000-kernel weights of the cultivars increased as KMC fell in one of the two years. Falling number was constant for all cutting times in the windrowed treatment, but increased linearly as KMC at harvest fell in the artifically dried treatment. Commercial grades in the windrowed material had reached maximum by 35% KMC in all three cultivars. In the artificially dried material, maximum grades were not obtained unless cutting was delayed until KMC values of 20% or less were reached. Material cut at higher KMC levels lost grade due to the presence of immature kernels and to low test weight.

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