Agnieszka Stokłosa

Vertical distribution of dry mass in cereals straw and its loss during harvesting

Abstract The study aimed at evaluating the distribution of mass in the straw of cereal species and also at assessing the straw yield and its losses resulting from the amount of the stubble left in the field. It was found empirically that the wheat culms are composed of five internodes, and in barley, triticale and oats of six. The highest straw mass per 1 cm was found in the second internode in both forms of wheat and winter triticale, whereas barley and oats gathered the highest weight in the first internode. In the southern part of Silesia species and forms of cereals differed in the straw yield, which can be arranged as follows, from the highest: winter wheat > spring wheat, winter triticale, winter barley, and oats > spring barley. Due to the specific distribution of dry matter in each of internodes of both wheat forms - winter and spring, they loose less stubble mass (22 and 24%, respectively), comparing to other cereals, especially spring barley, which loose 31% yield of straw in the stubble of 15 cm height.