By Nidhi Rawat
It’s almost harvest time and Fusarium head blight (FHB) can reduce wheat and barley grain yield and quality, leading to price discounts due to Fusarium-damaged kernels (FDK), deoxynivalenol (DON), and reduced test weight. If your fields are affected by FHB, adjusting your combine settings can help improve grain quality and reduce losses.
Additional strategies such as increasing the fan speed, keeping scabby grain separate, testing for DON, and cleaning of grain can also make a difference. Here are a few strategies to consider for minimizing price discounts at harvest.
Based on a study in the journal Plant Disease, modifying combine settings to increase fan speed and shutter opening could improve grain quality and reduce price discounts enough to counteract the reduction in harvested grain compared to the standard combine setting.
Source : umd.edu