HARVESTING AND POST-HARVEST MANAGEMENT
HARVESTING AND POST-HARVEST MANAGEMENT
Harvesting
- Harvest when the grains on the panicles are golden brown (straw colored) and when three quarters of the panicles in the field are at this stage
- Harvest rice at 8 to 12 days after physiological maturity in rain fed and 4 to 8 days after physiological maturity in irrigated to obtain the best whole grain rice yields
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Water should be drained 7 to 10 days before the expected date of harvesting to enable the farmer to harvest in drier fields.
Threshing and winnowing
- Cut rice using sickles at 5 to 10 cm above the ground and thresh on the same day
- Thresh on mats or tarpaulin by beating with sticks
- Threshed rice should be winnowed using flat baskets (lichero) to remove chaffs, broken straws, unfilled grains, and other foreign matter from the well filled grains.
Drying
- Dry the winnowed rice by spreading it on mats for two sunny days to enable it to reach 13% moisture content (rattling sound) which is safe for storage
- If rice has been stored for a longer period, dry it in the sun for a day before milling
- High whole grain percentage is obtained when it is taken for milling soon after the drying period.
Storage
- Store paddy rice in proper storage facilities including sacks
- Well dried paddy should be stored in moisture-proof, well aerated structures and guarded against insects and rodents
- Dust with Actellic Super or (Bifelthrin) Super Grain Dust at the rate of 40g to a 50 kg bag of paddy to control rice weevil attack.
