Accelerate the Promotion of Corn Grain Mechanical Harvest

In Autumn, to promote the development in the technology of corn grain mechanical harvest, innovation team of crop cultivation and physiology of Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences organized 32 field demonstrations of corn grain mechanical harvest in Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu, Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu and Xinjiang provinces. As early as in 2010, the researchers realized that complete mechanization is the only way for modern corn production in China. The grain mechanical harvest is the last mile of the whole process. From this year, the research team started the comprehensive research and experimental demonstration of grain mechanical harvest technology.

The research team established a total of more than 60 experimental sites to comprehensively promote the work. At present, the team has collected thousands of experimental data and screened out corn cultivars adapting to grain mechanical harvesting in the main corn production regions. The team also developed “corn close planting for high yield and corn grain mechanical harvesting technology rules "and" field yield testing methods and procedures of corn grain mechanical harvest". Both of the technologies were chosen by Ministry of Agriculture as the main recommended technologies and provided scientific support for corn grain harvesting technology popularization and application in China.

Through many years of experiments, corn grain mechanical harvest technology is accepted by the local farmers especially in the spring maize regions. However, in the region of Huanghuaihai, rotation of summer corn and winter wheat in one year is the main planting pattern. Because corn growing season is short and land scale is small, farmers doubt about corn grain mechanical harvest technology. With this doubt, the team conducted this research and demonstration firstly in 2012 in Xinxiang experimental base of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Huanghuaihai region and succeeded. The research team held corn grain mechanical harvest demonstration in Xinxiang on October 8 and got very good results. The team also developed cooperation with Henan Tianguan Group on September 29 this year, this technology was adopted in the scale of 400 ha and proved to be adapted in Huanghuaihai region. It played an important and leading role for recommending this technology.

Prof. Shaokun Li, the team leader, introduced that according to the survey, adopting grain mechanical harvesting could directly reduce the cost of about 200 yuan and 100 yuan per ton than manual harvest and ear mechanical harvesting respectively, and it could avoid loss in the process of ear picking, drying, storage and threshing and avoid mildew problems. By using grain mechanical harvest technology to change the way of production and reduce production cost is an important way to improve the competitiveness of corn production.