Cereals processing technology
Cereals processing technology
Cereals processing technology
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18 <strong>Cereals</strong> <strong>processing</strong> <strong>technology</strong><br />
without fungicides in trials throughout the country provides further information<br />
on their yield and quality characteristics. Recommendation depends on their<br />
average performance exceeding the mean performance of varieties already<br />
recommended.<br />
2.3 Crop establishment<br />
Traditionally the UK wheat crop has been predominantly winter sown, while<br />
barley was largely spring sown until the mid 1970s when the winter crop<br />
increased in popularity through the introduction of high yielding feed varieties.<br />
Spring barley varieties remain the dominant malting types. In England and<br />
Wales winter oats are preferred, whereas in Scotland spring oats dominate.<br />
The optimum sowing time for both winter wheat and barley is from mid<br />
September to early October, although with the increase in farm size and the<br />
reduction in full-time farm labour both wheat and barley are now sown earlier in<br />
the autumn. Early sowing is beneficial in promoting good root and shoot systems<br />
before the onset of winter, which in turn enables the crop to intercept a greater<br />
proportion of available radiation during spring and summer, thereby establishing<br />
a higher yield potential. To achieve this potential growers frequently incur<br />
additional production costs, especially through increased use of herbicides and<br />
fungicides.<br />
Spring cereals are normally sown as soon as soil conditions allow from<br />
February onwards, although spring varieties of wheat may be sown during the<br />
period from the middle of November until January after harvesting sugar beet<br />
and potatoes on light land. The yield potential of late sown spring wheat and<br />
barley is generally inferior to crops sown before the end of March.<br />
Soil conditions during seedbed preparation have a significant effect on crop<br />
performance. Seedbeds have normally been produced by ploughing, followed by<br />
a series of secondary cultivations to produce a satisfactory tilth. Whilst effective,<br />
this method of crop establishment is both time consuming and expensive. Direct<br />
drilling of winter cereals became popular in the 1970s as a cost effective system<br />
of establishment, but the introduction of the straw burning ban in England and<br />
Wales, coupled with an increase in grass weeds has made it less effective in<br />
recent times. Minimum cultivation systems have become a popular method of<br />
crop establishment on suitable soils in the absence of major grass weed<br />
problems. Recent advances in machine design, combining cultivation and<br />
drilling machinery behind a single power unit, have significantly increased the<br />
ability of growers to sow large areas quickly and effectively. Reducing<br />
establishment costs is now regarded as a major factor in containing fixed costs.<br />
An important feature of all cereal plants is their ability to produce a large<br />
number of shoots or tillers, although by harvest many of the tillers will have<br />
died, leaving a main stem and one to three ear bearing tillers. The number of<br />
tillers produced is often negatively correlated with plant density, while tiller<br />
survival is strongly influenced by environmental and agronomic factors which,