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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2012, Vol. 12 Issue (8): 1297-1304    DOI: 10.1016/S1671-2927(00)8658
PHYSIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY · TILLAGE · CULTIVATION Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Mechanical Harvesting Effects on Seed Yield Loss, Quality Traits and Profitability of Winter Oilseed Rape (Brassica napus L.)
 MA Ni, ZHANG Chun-lei, LI Jun, ZHANG Ming-hai, CHENG Yu-gui, LI Guang-ming,  ZHANG Shujie
1.Oil Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology, Ministry of Agriculture/Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Physiology, Ministry of Agriculture, Wuhan 430062, P.R.China
2.Agricultural Institute of Yichang City, Yichang 443004, P.R.China
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摘要  China is one of the most important rapeseed producing countries in the world. Effective mechanical harvesting time for decreasing harvesting loss of winter oilseed rape has been becoming a critical factor. An elite cultivar Zhongshuang 11 (Brassica napus L.) was employed in two rounds of field experiments from 2009 to 2011. Seeds were sown with machine, three combine harvesting times namely combine harvesting A, B, and C (CHA, CHB, and CHC) were designed and manual harvesting (MH) as control was performed at maturity. The harvesting treatments were determined according to color of pod and seed in the field. Seed yield loss and quality in different treatments were evaluated. Results showed that both seed yields and harvesting losses in 2009-2010 were higher than that in 2010-2011, whereas seed oil contents in 2010-2011 were higher than that in 2009-2010. The highest yield appeared in CHB, which was significantly higher than that in MH. Furthermore, harvesting loss in CHB were 50% that in MH. Seed oil content and chlorophyll exhibited no obvious difference between CHB and MH. Economic profit analysis demonstrated that mechanical sowing/combine harvesting (MS/CH) showed an input/output ratio of 1:1.6, and it was 1:1.2 in mechanical sowing/manual harvesting (MS/MH). Labor-cost accounted for more than 70% of the total cost in MS/MH, which led to low profitability to a great extent. Our results suggested that CHB was the optimum harvesting time for winter oilseed rape along the Yangtze River.

Abstract  China is one of the most important rapeseed producing countries in the world. Effective mechanical harvesting time for decreasing harvesting loss of winter oilseed rape has been becoming a critical factor. An elite cultivar Zhongshuang 11 (Brassica napus L.) was employed in two rounds of field experiments from 2009 to 2011. Seeds were sown with machine, three combine harvesting times namely combine harvesting A, B, and C (CHA, CHB, and CHC) were designed and manual harvesting (MH) as control was performed at maturity. The harvesting treatments were determined according to color of pod and seed in the field. Seed yield loss and quality in different treatments were evaluated. Results showed that both seed yields and harvesting losses in 2009-2010 were higher than that in 2010-2011, whereas seed oil contents in 2010-2011 were higher than that in 2009-2010. The highest yield appeared in CHB, which was significantly higher than that in MH. Furthermore, harvesting loss in CHB were 50% that in MH. Seed oil content and chlorophyll exhibited no obvious difference between CHB and MH. Economic profit analysis demonstrated that mechanical sowing/combine harvesting (MS/CH) showed an input/output ratio of 1:1.6, and it was 1:1.2 in mechanical sowing/manual harvesting (MS/MH). Labor-cost accounted for more than 70% of the total cost in MS/MH, which led to low profitability to a great extent. Our results suggested that CHB was the optimum harvesting time for winter oilseed rape along the Yangtze River.
Keywords:  winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.)      combine harvesting      harvesting loss      seed quality      economic profit  
Received: 21 July 2011   Accepted:
Fund: 

This work was supported by the Special Funding for Modern Agricultural Technical System of China (Rapeseed) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31071372).

Corresponding Authors:  Correspondence ZHANG Chun-lei, Tel/Fax: +86-27-86739796, E-mail: clzhang@vip.sina.com     E-mail:  clzhang@vip.sina.com

Cite this article: 

MA Ni, ZHANG Chun-lei, LI Jun, ZHANG Ming-hai, CHENG Yu-gui, LI Guang-ming, ZHANG Shujie. 2012. Mechanical Harvesting Effects on Seed Yield Loss, Quality Traits and Profitability of Winter Oilseed Rape (Brassica napus L.). Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 12(8): 1297-1304.

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