Individual Rice Kernel Moisture Content Variability Trends

Variation in individual kernel moisture content (MC) distributions in rice panicles were measured for rice cultivarsBengal, Cypress, and Drew. Rice panicles were harvested at different stages of maturity from foundation seed fields at twolocations with widely varying soils in Arkansas during the autumns of 1998, 1999, and 2000. The objective was to quantifyvariability of individual rice kernel MCs as affected by maturity, planting location, and year. Individual kernel MCdistributions were multi-modal until the average harvest MC (HMC) reached about 16%, at which point the distributionstended to be primarily single-modal. For all cultivars, HMC significantly affected kernel MC standard deviation (SD). ForCypress and Drew, individual kernel MC SD was also significantly affected by year and location with significant interactionsbetween HMC and year and HMC and location. Regression equations that accounted for the variation in individual kernelMC at varying kernel maturity stages were generated for each cultivar.