THRESHING/SHELLING

Reasons for prompt shelling:

•Ease of handling

•Ease of chemical application

•Reduce storage space

 Methods used
• MANUAL
– Hand
– Stone
– Trampling
• MECHANICAL
• Hand operated
• Diesel powered stationery shellers
 ADVANTAGES
• Grain treatment easier and easier
• Reduce grain moth attack
• Ease of handling
– Volume and weight reduced
• Easy to store
 LOSS PREVENTION
• REDUCE
–Scattering
–Mechanical damage
 How to thresh grain contd

Hand threshing
Beans, sorghum and millet seed heads
and paddy panicles can beaten against
a threshing platform.

Alternatively ..........
Manual threshing platform

Mechanical threshers
•These have an output of 600 to 5000kg/h
and most also clean the threshed grain.
•In the case of paddy rice, pedal operated
threshers are also available.
Pedal operated rice thresher
 How to shell maize
•Maize cobs must first of all be dehusked.

•Select out cobs that are insect or mould damaged*,

to keep grain quality high.

*insect damaged grain can be fed to animals but it is better to destroy

mouldy grain as this can be toxic and could kill animals.
 How to shell maize contd
Maize cobs may be shelled using
• bare hands or on specially selected stones
• wooden or metal hand-shellers
• hand-cranked or pedal operated
shellers with outputs of 50-130 kg/hour.
• motor-driven shellers

Never shell maize by beating it with sticks

 CLEANING, SORTING & GRADING

cleaning
grade
sorting

• Improve quality & establish grade

 CLEANING AND SORTING
• Better storage
• Higher grade good price
 UNWANTED MATERIALS
• Plant material:
– Chaff
– Straw
– Cob core pieces
• Other seeds
• Inorganic matter
• Sand
• Stones
• Any other objects
• Organic matter
– Insects
– Eggs
– Rodent droppings & hair
REASONS FOR REMOVING UNWANTED
MATTER
• Grain may have poisonous seeds
• Extraneous matter:
– habour insect pest
– can attract moisture
– takes up space
– reduces aeration
– Reduces effectiveness of chemical treatment
• Reduced infestation
• Reduces sec pests that feed on broken/damaged grain
 GRADING
• FACTORS CONSIDERED:
– Moisture content : 12.5
– Impurities (extraneous matter)
– Chipped
– Broken %
– Defective (colour diseased, shrivelled, stains)
– Unthreshed
– Test density
 Example of GRADING TABLE used in
Zimbabwe
Grade A B C D
EXTRANEOUS 0.5 0.75 1.0 4.0
MATTER (%)
DEFECTIVE (%) 0.6 12 17 22
MC (%) 12.5 12.5 12.5 12.5
TEST DENSITY (kg/hl) 70.0 68.0 66 -
TRASH (%) 0.1 0.1 0.25 0.3
BROKEN/ 0.8 - - -
CHIPPED (%)