Cereal harvesting

Amongst agricultural productions, wheat is the second most cultivated cereal plant worldwide. Wheat straw is the main by-product of cereal harvest and is primarily used as fodder for animals [1]. It consists of relatively large number of elements, including the actual fibers, parenchymal cells, vessel elements, and epi-... 

Ryu JC, Yang JS, Sraig YS, Kwon OS, Park J, Chang IM (1996) Survey of natural occurrence of trichothecene mycotoxins and zearalenone in Korean cereals harvested in 1992 using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Food Addit Contam. 13 333... 

Higher yields are sparing the land as larger harvests come from an unchanged, or even declining, area of farmland as shown by this comparison of the global cereal harvest and planted area. 

Some modern varieties of cereals such as wheat and rice achieve high yield potential through genetic factors for plant dwarfness that improve harvest index. A popular notion among plant breeders is that high-yielding... 

Cereals are dried in a greenhouse after sampling and shipped within 4 weeks of harvest. 

Winter barley is an ideal entry for oilseed rape because the earlier harvest allows early drilling of rape. It has been shown on organic farms that building up fertility by using a green manure crop, such as red clover, has paid off financially, with the subsequent boost in yield of the following cereal crop. 

In the USSR, pesticide use was an economic loss even without considering negative effects on human health and environmental damage. Using pesticides to cultivate cereals under conditions in the USSR might somehow be justified economically (though not environmentally ) when the harvest was over than 45-50 cwt/ha (in the USSR the average harvest was 14-17 cwt/ha). 

A review of the available literature allows a hierarchical ranking of the importance of different factors that influence the pre-harvest infection of cereal grains by Fusarium weather/climate (year) > inoculum pressure/tillage/ previous crop > fungicides > available plant nitrogen. The individual factors related to other fungi are described in separate sections below. 

Saprophytic, dark pigmented fungi such as Alternaria spp. can infect a wide range of plant species, especially tissues that are exposed to other biotic or abiotic stressors and older and senescing plant tissues. Also, wet weather conditions favour attack by Alternaria spp. Inoculum of Alternaria and potentially production of altemariol is further enhanced when cereal straw and stubble is left on the soil surface and not sufficiently incorporated into the soil after harvest (direct seeding and minimum tillage systems). 

Weller, C.L., Paulsen, M.R., and Mbuvi, S. 1989. Germ weight, germ oil content, and estimated oil yield for wet-milled yellow dent com as affected by moisture content at harvest and temperature of drying air. Cereal Chem. 66, 273-275. 

It has long been established that ochratoxin can be transferred to body fluids and eggs. Important ochratoxin-contaminated foods, in which the effects of processing have been studied, are cereals and coffee. Delay in drying grain after harvesting results in an increase of ochratoxin. 

Soil surface balance measures the differences between the input or application of nutrients entering the soil (e.g. mineral fertilisers or organic manure) and the output or withdrawal of nutrients from harvested and fodder crops. Farm gate balances measure the nutrient input on the basis of the nutrient contents of purchased material (e.g. concentrates, fertilisers, fodder, livestock, biological N-fixation) and farm sales such as meat, milk, fodder, cereals (OECD 1997). 

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