The operational characteristics of current combine harvesters require the entire plant to be cut before being threshed.
------------------------------------------
A high amount of energy is required for this entire processing operation.
-----------------------------------
Interestingly, Mesquita and Hanna (1995) found that the amount of energy required to open soybean pods was onsiderably low in comparison to the total energy utilized to process the whole plant.
---------------------------------------
Quick (1972,1974) and Mesquita and Hanna (1993a, 1993b) reported that material-other-than-grain (MOG) corresponded to 60% of the total volume of plant material, which was processed unnecessarily during conventional combine harvesting.