Dear Rahul,

You can standardize your yield data of sorghum and maize at 12% moisture content. Firstly, you have to determine the actual moisture content by drying the samples in oven at 60 degree Celcius temperature. You should record the moisture content as percentage as (fresh weight - dry weight)*100 / fresh weight. Accordingly you know the dry matter content in your sample and by following the same principle you can convert to fresh weight of your observations considering moisture content of 12%.

Dear Rahul,

You can standardize your grain yield data to 12% MC. Some will do it at 12, 12.5 or 13%  up to 15% in some cases. But mostly you get 12 or 13% for cereal grains. Note: It is always good to state the standardized moisture content value when reporting your results. 

The actual moisture content of the grains for the different plots can be determined using a moisture meter or via the drying method explained by Swapan.

The formula for adjusting the yield to standardized weight is;

Yield (at 12% grain moisture) = Grain yield × (100 – actual grain moisture %)/88

Note that the 12% in the formula is not constant. It is the moisture to which the grain is converted in this example. The value is subtracted from 100 to give 88% in the right-hand side of the equation. If the researcher desires to convert the grain to 13% moisture, the denominator becomes 87%. Check the attached doc on section 7

Rgds

Joses, AGRONOMIST

For US Midwest conditions the standard moisture content for grain corn is 15.5%.  Perhaps, it may be the same for Texas.  According to University of Kentucky extension (see the attached) the standard moisture content for grain sorghum is 14%. Methods to estimate yield at standard moisture content (for corn) is explained in the other article attached here.  Same steps may be applicable to grain sorghum.

Harvest Index (HI) for grain crops is defined as the dry weight of grains divided by the total dry weight above ground biomass (grains plus stover).

HI = dry weight of grains/(dry weight of grains + dry weight of stover)

Hope these are helpful.

Thank you Dr. Joses. I did the same way initially as you have stated but I was not confirmed if I was going in right direction. Also,  as Dr. Susantha stated the standard moisture content in midwest US to be 15.5%, I used 15.5% while calculating initially but in some papers I found 12% or 13% which confused me. Now I'll use 15.5% instead of 12% again, as the corn was grown in Texas. Thank you Dr. Susantha.

I just wrote an article on this very subject. Here you go: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ag442

Dear Dr. Michael Mulvaney I tried to see your paper. It is an interesting. but How we convert the yield we have got from small plot to hectare? is that simple the adjusted yield of small plot is converted to Kg/hectare or we may also adjust it? because the calculation of how you get Wet Yld (kg/ha) is not clear