THE EFFECT ON YIELD AND QUALITY OF WINDROWING BARLEY AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF MATURITY

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L. ’Bonanza’) was windrowed for five harvesting seasons at kernel moisture contents (KMC) (throughout this paper, wet-basis moisture content is used) ranging from about 55 to 19% at Melfort in the Parkbelt area of Saskatchewan. Windrowing the crop at 40% KMC did not cause a significant loss in grain yield or quality as measured by test weight, 1000-kernel weight, percent protein and phosphorus content as compared to harvesting at lower KMC. The results show that windrowing barley at 30–40% KMC will often reduce shattering and facilitate earlier combining. These results agree with earlier work reported.Key words: Hordeum vulgare L., harvesting, kernel moisture content, yield, quality