Operating factors of Thai threshers affecting corn shelling losses

The objective of this research was to study the operating factors of Thai threshers affecting corn shelling losses,which comprised rotor speed (RS), louver inclination (LI), grain moisture content (MC), feed rate (FR), and grain to materialother than grain ratio (GM). Seventeen Thai corn-shelling threshers were random-sampled during the late rainy season cropof 2008 and ten threshers were sampled in the early rainy season crop of 2009 in Loei province, Northeast of Thailand.The results of this study indicated that LI and MC affected shelling losses whereas RS, FR and GM did not affect losses.Increased LI or decreased MC tended to reduce shelling losses. In operating the Thai threshers for corn shelling, if shellinglosses have to be kept lower that 0.5%, the moisture content should not exceed 20%wb and the louver inclination should notbe less than 85 degrees.