Abstract:The crop losses during theprocess of harvesting threshing transportation and storage of food grains arequit considerable.
There are two type of factor biotic and abiotic which causethe losses during harvesting examples biotic birds, abiotic rain, time toharvest, machine age, forward speed of harvester . The main objective of thepresent study is to determine the losses by comparing the seed samplescollected from the field at different places per meter square after harvesting withthe stored seed samples of the same varieties for this purposes 15 seed samplesare collected from 5 varieties of wheat by collecting 3 samples from eachvariety. These samples were taken from different sites, 1st sample wascollected from harvested area, 2nd was taken from the clean area, 3rdwas taken from the empty tank area.
Then we will compare these samples witheach other on the basis of different parameters i.e number of grains, seedweight, seed volume, seed length and width. These comparisons will be done tofind the maximum and minimum loss during harvesting.
Introduction:Wheat (Triticum aestivum) in oneof the major crops used for edible pupose in the world. Wheat is valueablecereal cultivated in the different parts of world (Carvalho, et al. 2013) along with other cerealsuch as rice, maiz, oat, millet, barley, sorghum and burkwheat. There are manyuses of wheat and its by product such as chapatti in asian countries. Wheatbran have high amount of antioxidents. Wheat crop is important beacause itcontribute 20 percent in world’s food calories. The food which we can get from wheat are bread, pasta,muffins and cakes etc ( Ishfaq, et al.2017).
Wheat is the widely grown cropall over the world and it covers a significant area than all other cereal cropson earth. It is the third largest cereal crop than maize and rice based on itsthree year average beside the fact that it covers more space of land than allother cereals. People’s life is significantly changed by domestication ofgrains and development of agricultural life styles, which also encouragespermanent settlements, trade and the development of civilization. Moreproductive crops and a larger grains are produced as a result of wheatdomestication which required continued intervention of farmers that wereintentionally trying to plant it and could not have survived in the world.(Wroot et al. 2001)Though the wheat is considered asa first grain to be domesticated but wheat cultivation started in the middleeast 9-11,000 years ago in the most fertile area of middle east and as a aresult modern wheat varieties were developed. It is usually considered that theNeolithic period is identified by domestication of animals and cereal crops.
After this period farming was most developed and it continued till thedevelopment of metal tools. The expanding geographical range of farmingresulted in bread wheat that became a staple food from England to China by the4000 BC. Rice hold a significant value in the east Asian culture, where wheatwas considered as a nutritional food for cultures in all over the Europe,Middle east and Asia (Wroot, S., Pinkersgall, D., and “Oz” et al.
2001). In Mexico wheat was introduced in1520 by the spinards, and in 1600’s to the early American colonists. It was notpopular in new England at that time due to its soil and climate, but wheat wasgrown for edible purpose to some extant and was introduced by migrating Europeansand agriculture scientists.
In themid 1800’s, this area was later calledas “Wheat Belt”.1830’s was an era ofgreat development regarding farming because in this era reaping and thrashing machineswere developed and as a result they increased productivity of crops duringharvesting. Steam engine was developed in 1880’s and early heat combustionengine was developed in 1920’s, both increased the farmer productivity during plantingand harvesting. As a result of improvement wheat fields became larger. Wheat isgrown all over the world as a staple food for human beings and livestock but aless amount of wheat is also used asource of animal feed. Wheat is usually grown for the production of whisky andbeer and husk can be grounded and used as bran. Wheat was a principle source ofstarch for the sizing of cloth and paper before the introduction of corn inEurope. (Oz et al,.
2001) , (Beuerlein, j et al. 2001).Starchy kernels (less gluten) arepresent in soft wheat varieties which mill easier than the hard wheat. ForFrench bread, Piecrust, breakfast food and biscuit soft wheat flour is usuallypreferred and used.
Cake, flour and bread are usually prepared by hard wheat that has high protein and glutenlevels than the softer ones. Durum is the hardest wheat and its flour is usedin manufacturing of pasta products, spaghetii and macroni. Soft wheats andwhite wheats have high prices in the market because they don’t need any beachingbecause of their natural color. (Beuerlein, j et al. 2001)These are themajor wheat classes:Hard Wheat:Hardred winter wheat:It contains high protein content and mostly used for breads and flours, andalso as an addition to increase protein content in other flours. It accountsfor more than 40% of the U.S. wheat production and half of wheat exports ofU.
S. Durumwheat: It’s springwheat and may be either white or red wheat. Among all other types of wheat inthe U.S. it is the hardest. This type contains high protein as well as highgluten content, and it is used to make the semolina flour which is used for makingpasta products and Mediterranean breads.
Hardred spring wheat:It contains the highest protein content, and is used to make different breads,flour, flour blends and hard baked goods.Hardwhite wheat: Itcontains medium protein content which is related to red wheat but not forcolor, related in baking and milling qualities. Due to its sweeter flavor, it isused in hard rolls, noodles, yeast breads, and also used in brewing. Wheat typesgrown in the U.S. it is the latest class(Beuerlein, j et al. 2001)Soft Wheat:Softred winter: Wheatis low to medium protein wheat, and is used for blending and making breads.
Itis used to make bakery products like flat breads, donuts, cakes and cookiesSoftwhite wheat: Itcontains the low protein content. But to growers this type of wheat gives goodyield. It provides a whiter product for high quality bakery products other thanbreads, and it is well-matched for flatbreads in Middle Eastern.(Oz et al,. 2001) , (Beuerlein, j et al. 2001)Factorsthat affects seed quality of post and pre-harvest seed:Rain fall prior to harvest cancause the pre- harvest germination. It could also cause the attack of fungalattack (Fungi Cladosporium ) .
Earlier harvesting having lot of moisture and immatureseed develop micoflora in the seed lot. Seed quality is lost due to mechanicaldamage occurs in the process of dressing, cleaning, chemicals and at the timeof treatment and transportation. Ideal moisture for wheat harvesting is 12%.
Thecorrect amount of doses and chemicals should be applied when treating withfungicides and insecticides. Otherwise seed may show phyto-toxicity symptoms.Review ofLiterature:Sattar et al. (2015) studied that during2010-11 at Adaptive Research Form Vehari, different harvesting and threshingtechniques affected grain losses in wheat. There are different methods fromwhich 3 are mainly used which are following (1) Manual & Thresher (2)Rapper & Thresher (3) Combine harvester. These techniques had differentimpacts on grain losses.164.
37kg/hectare grain losses are accurately manual +thresher and which were about 3.16% and 142.93kg/hectare occurred by reaper +thresher which were about 2.76%. 222.
63/hectare, 199.4kg/hectare, 149.8kg/hectare, grain losses of wheatoccurred by harvesting and threshing process with manual + thresher, reaper +thresher and combine harvest respectively and 4.28 %, 3.9 % and 2.9 %respectively. Experiment showed that minimum loss occur by reaper + thresherwhich were about (0.82%) by providing 42.
9kg/hectare inert grain in theproduce. The cleaning efficiency of other harvesting and threshing techniqueswere better than combiner techniques.Agha and Siddiqui (2004) reportedthat grain losses also affected by threshing timing. At the time of observationdates meteorological characteristics were different.
Collected data also showedthat grain losses also affected by threshing timing, grain losses increasedwith late and also increased with early threshing. During middle of the daythere were minimum losses observed. By doing comparison of loss types show thatmaximum losses were un-threshed following by unbroken grain losses.Ibupoto et al. (1991) conducted an experiment to evaluate field grainlosses in wheat variety Sarsabz that were harvested, threshed and winnowed byconventional method at Malir farm.
Data from 30 samples showed that fortraditional methods average grain losses during pre-harvest, the harvest andpost-harvest stages were 10.8, 29 and 122.9 kg/ha respectively. They observedthat post-harvest grain losses were the highest. Among the post-harvest grainlosses bundling losses were maximum (1.41%) followed by threshing (1.02%),winnowing (0.
66%) and transport (0.12%).Zaman et al. (1992) Monitor the harvesting losses by using 2 combineharvester as well as 3 forward speed levels and with the help of these harvest2 wheat varieties which had three different grain moisture levels (13% 26% 20%).
Results showed that performance of Pak 81 was better than Punjab 85 in caseof losses during harvesting. In Punjab 85 grain damage was minor and also separationlosses were reduced when moisture level was lower but quality as well as shatteringlosses increased. Kumar et al,. (2017) investigated that at the time of crop harvest, standingcrop got damage due to occurrence of different storms and rain. Earlyharvesting of crop produced many days for the good preparation of cultivatedland and for next crops gave proper time for sowing.
By using different typesof harvesting machine crop harvesting at proper time and at proper maturitystage can be done. After proper maturity stage, crop harvesting with machinesreduced grain as well as straw losses. There are several methods for harvestingand threshing of wheat crop. Which are manual and mechanical methods. Under thiscomparative study, the effective field capacity at 16 % moisture content was0.30 ha/hr at speed of 3 km/hr.
The field efficiency of self-propelled binderwas 74, 76.79 %, and 77.90 % at moisture content 20, 18, 16 % respectively. Theshattering losses of self-propelled reaper binder was 51 kg/ha at 3 km/hrforward speed with 20 % moisture content and observed that increase forwardspeed shattering losses was increase.
The grain breakage percentage duringexperiment of combine harvest at 3.25 km/hr speed with 20 % moisture contentwas 0.06 % and observed that grain breakage percentage was increase withforward speed and moisture content. The un-threshed grain percentage was 0.66 %at 3.25 km/hr at 20 % level moisture content.
The total grain loss was 1.7 % at4.05 km/hr forward speed at 20 % moisture content.
Shamabadi (2012) observed thatmost part of wheat that produced in Pakistan wasted at each stage of wheatproduction. But at harvesting stage is very important stage where maximum wheatlosses occurred. The first step in planning for waste reduction wheat harvestestimate the amount of losses and factors are identified. In this studycollective wheat harvesting in shahrood observed, for this purpose 8 differenttypes of combiners were selected and examined. 16.
1% wheat losses were observedin 3 samples. This loss of wheat was beyond the range of acceptation. 6.88 %wheat loss was average from all combine harvesters. The result of study showedthat delaying in wheat harvesting and use of improper combiners were the maincauses of wheat losses.Mirasi et al. (2014) investigated wheat losses during pre-harvest andharvest stages in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province of Iran in year 2013. Wheatlosses at harvest stages were measured to wheat varieties in 2 levels of Omidand Alvand were chosen and Combine types in 2 levels: JD 955 and JD 1165 whilewere chosen.
The data analyzed using and means were compared using SASSoftware’s and Duncan’s Multiple Range Tests were. The results showed thathigher amount of losses were in the Omid variety and JD 955 with totally 6.83 %(307.4 kg ha-1) that 10.
5 % of them attributed on the cleaning, 34 % on Header,16.5 % on Drum, 21 % on impurity and 18% broken grain losses. The lowest lossesrelated to JD 1165 and Alvand variety wit h 3.97 % (178.66 kg ha-1) that 10 %of them attributed on the cleaning, 38 % on Header, 13 % on Drum , 22 % onimpurity and 17% broken grain losses. Also, average losses amount inpre-harvest was in all over fields the study 24.
5 kg ha-1 that 9.8 % of totallosses represent the measured total losses Alvand 20.5 kg ha-1 3and the varietyof Omid 28.5 kg ha-1 respectively.Bartholomeu et al. (2016) observed that losses during transportation in thedomestic market account for about 11.8% of the total amount of wheat grain thatleaves the farms.
Losses during harvest and storage in cooperatives, whichaccount for 93.2% of total losses, stand out in this context. Transportationoperations account for 6.
8% of total losses in the analyzed flow. Based on theresults obtained in this study, strategies are suggested to reduce food lossesin different links of the logistics chain, such as to evidence and quantify thewheat losses to manage losses and set reduction targets and to give attentionto transportation service levels.Losses of crops at the time ofharvesting, threshing, transportation and storage of food grains are needed tobe reduced. The present study has projected in Ludhiana and Ferozepur districtsof Punjab, estimated the losses occurring during post- harvest time from thefield of 120 farmers having different size of wheat growing fields.
The studyhas observed that harvesting losses were more for the late harvested crop dueto shattering of the grains, while losses during transportation, handling androdents attack in the case of stored grains have been found insignificant. Currently1.84% the post-harvest losses have been observed as compared to 9.
3 per centduring 1971 and 3.71-3.85 per cent in 1992. Thus, post harvested losses inwheat reduced by proper management at post-harvest time. The study has forcedon proper time harvesting of wheat crop and losses can be reduced by creatingawareness in people by arranging different types of seminar and workshops tocontrol insect losses of stored grainsMaterial andMethod:Countingof Wheat Grains / m2: To count the numbers of shattered grains arecollected from different experimental areas from field of PAROKA Farm atUniversity of Agriculture, Faisalabad, these samples were collected in permeter square of different varieties of wheat at experimental site. These willbe counted by simple counting method / by hand.Columncounting:We will count the stubblesremains in per meter square area after the harvesting of wheat from thespecific areas where we will collect the samples (PAROKA, UAF)Calculationof seed weight:After seeding the shattered wheatgrains we will put the require stock into weighing machine for calculate theweight, Example one grain weight (g/1000 seeds).
1000 grains = 35 grams ifsingle grains weight is 35mg.Volumeof Seed:Different grains samples Truedensity is found by dividing the weight(or mass) of the 35.00 ± 0.
05 g by using the pycnometer volume (displacement)of the same grains sample, and is reported in grams per cubic centimeter (g/cm3).Typically range of true densities is from 1.24 to 1.
39 g/cm3 andmoistures of about 12 to 15%.SeedLength and width:We will measured the length ofwheat grains and the width of grains by the using the Vernier Caliper. Lengthand width of 10 seeds will be measured per sample.Comparisonof seed:For this purpose we will tooksamples of the same varieties from the stored seed which is harvested andstored then we will compare these with the samples collected from the field fromPROKA. This comparison is will be done to find the seed shape, seed color andseed length and width.Spikecomparison: For the comparison of spike the spikes will becompared on the basis of spike shape, length and color.
GerminationTest: For this study of seed viability these twoexperiments will be conducted, 1st one on the sand, we will sow theseeds on fine sand and give proper environment, 2nd experiment willbe done by using towel paper method. The seeds will germinate and on basis ofgerminated seeds we will be able to calculate the seed viability.Heightparameters: For this purpose wheat plant height will besimply measured with the use of meter rod/scale from the different wheatvarieties at the site (PAROKA). Theheight will be measured in cm.
