Sunflower production, harvesting, drying and storage
Sunflower, produced for its edible oil, has recently evolved as an important cash crop for the Dakotas and Minnesota. This oilseed crop has increased from 81,000 hectares in the mid-1960's to over 1,620,000 hectares in 1981. Over 90% of the sunflower crop planted in the United States is of oilseed varieties. Sunflower tends to fit well in small grain cropping rotation. Sunflower is planted after small grains in the spring and harvested in the fall, following small grain harvest. Planting of sunflower is recommended from May 20 to May 31. Soil temperature should be between 4/sup 0/C and 10/sup 0/C for germinaton. Diseases occurring in sunflower can greatly reduce yield and hinder harvest operations. A sunflower crop is normally ready for harvest about 120 days after planting. Combines suitable for treshing small gains can be adapted to harvest sunflower. Sunflower can be dried in conventional crop dryers; bin, batch and continuous flow dryers have been used successfully. Sunflower dries easily due to the relatively small amount of water removed. Drying temperatures up to 104/sup 0/C do not have an adverse affect on the oil percentage or fatty acid composition of oil type sunflower. A serious fire hazard exists when drying sunflower. The storage of sunflower is similar to any other crop. The recommended storage moisture content is 8% for oil seeds and 10% for confectionary. Cooling the sunflower seed greatly increases the storability and decreases insect damage. Sunflower should be cooled to about 0/sup 0/C which nearly stops microbial activity. The sunflower should be checked at least weekly. 9 figures, 1 table. (DP)
- Research Organization:
- North Dakota State Univ., Fargo
- OSTI ID:
- 6107201
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-820860-
- Journal Information:
- ASAE Publ.; (United States), Conference: International conference on plant and vegetable oils as fuels, Fargo, ND, USA, 2 Aug 1982
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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