{"id":434,"date":"2012-06-20T23:16:53","date_gmt":"2012-06-20T23:16:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seedproduction\/?p=434"},"modified":"2012-06-20T23:16:53","modified_gmt":"2012-06-20T23:16:53","slug":"grass-seed-crop-harvest-and-seed-moisture-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seedproduction\/2012\/06\/20\/grass-seed-crop-harvest-and-seed-moisture-content\/","title":{"rendered":"Grass seed crop harvest and seed moisture content"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Thomas G. Chastain<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Grass seed crop harvest in Oregon will begin shortly and to maximize harvest efficiency, identifying the best timing for harvest is essential.\u00a0 Seed moisture content has been found to be the most reliable indicator of seed maturity and harvest timing in grass seed crops.<\/p>\n<p>Since pollination and seed maturation are not uniform processes in grass seed crops, a range of seed maturity can be found in a single field.\u00a0 Harvesting within the correct  range of seed moisture contents will  maximize harvestable seed yield and  minimize losses of seed during  harvest.  Seed moisture content is also an important factor in the storability of harvested seed.\u00a0 High seed moisture content reduces longevity of seed in storage and reduces seed quality.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In order to optimize the timing to swath grass seed crops and to maximize the quantity of seed harvested, seed growers must balance cutting late-maturing seeds too early with cutting early-maturing seeds too late.\u00a0 Cutting too early at high seed moisture content shortens the seed fill period leading to immature seed and reduced seed size or weight.\u00a0 Cutting too late at low seed moisture content can reduce yield as a result of seed shattering losses.<\/p>\n<p>Illustrated instructions on how to conduct a seed  moisture test in grass seed crops and guidelines for seed moisture contents for best harvest efficiency can be found in OSU&#8217;s publication EM 9012.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s a link to the publication:<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Seed Moisture\" href=\"http:\/\/cropandsoil.oregonstate.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/classes\/css460-560\/em9012.pdf\">Using Seed Moisture as a Harvest Management Tool<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A video showing  step by step instructions on collecting seed and several methods to test  the moisture content of seed was also developed.  Here&#8217;s a link to the video:<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Seed Moisture Video\" href=\"http:\/\/media.oregonstate.edu\/index.php\/show\/using_seed_moisture_as_a_harvest_management_tool?id=0_wdgfbz4x\">Seed Moisture Video<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/p>\n<p>  var _gaq = _gaq || [];\n  _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-30740259-1']);\n  _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);<\/p>\n<p>  (function() {\n    var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text\/javascript'; ga.async = true;\n    ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:\/\/ssl' : 'http:\/\/www') + '.google-analytics.com\/ga.js';\n    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);\n  })();<\/p>\n<p><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thomas G. Chastain Grass seed crop harvest in Oregon will begin shortly and to maximize harvest efficiency, identifying the best timing for harvest is essential.\u00a0 Seed moisture content has been found to be the most reliable indicator of seed maturity and harvest timing in grass seed crops. Since pollination and seed maturation are not uniform&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seedproduction\/2012\/06\/20\/grass-seed-crop-harvest-and-seed-moisture-content\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2299,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[788179,788176,788184],"tags":[3418,3415,3454,109093],"class_list":["post-434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grass-seed-crops","category-harvest-practices","category-seed-production","tag-grass-seed-crops","tag-harvest-practices","tag-seed-moisture","tag-seed-production"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seedproduction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seedproduction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seedproduction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seedproduction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2299"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seedproduction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seedproduction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":741,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seedproduction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434\/revisions\/741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seedproduction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seedproduction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/seedproduction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}