Physical and sanity quality of Zea mays L. harvested by radial combine

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the physical and sanitary quality of corn seeds harvested by two combine operating on different speeds and collected in different locations in the machine. It was used a 2x2x2 entirely randomized factorial design with four replicates. The treatments were built up from two machines (New Holland TC 57 and New Holland TC 59), two speeds (4 km h-1 and 5 km h-1 ) and two collecting locations (graintank and unloading exit). For all treatments there were evaluated: purity, rate of broken and damaged grains and the presence of fungi associated to the seeds. There was significant interaction between factors only in obtaining averages of pure seed. It was observed the presence of Fusarium sp., Cladosporium sp., Aspergillus spp. e Penicillium sp. Minor losses were observed when using TC 57 at 4 km h-1 harvesting speed. There was no difference between rates for loss of quality of seeds collected by the harvester TC 59. The seeds collected by both combines and at the two speeds showed no differences related to the incidence of fungi but with a larger incidence in the seeds collected from the unloading exit

Keywords

• Corn
• purity
• seeds pathology
• harvest.