ABSTRACT. California's medium-grain rice industry experiences a wide range of head rice yield (HRY).he unit value of rice is based primarily on its head rice yield (HRY, the proportion of kernels greater than 75% of intact length; USDA-FGIS, 1994). Improving HRY is an ongoing goal for rice growers. The average moisture content of the paddy rice at harvest (HMC, expressed on a wet weight basis) influences HRY. For medium-grain rice grown in Italy, dry conditions allowed HMC to drop below about 15%, and a subsequent rain caused a significant drop in HRY (Finassi et al., 2002). However, when repeated rain events kept HMC above 20%, HRY was not influenced by HMC. In Louisiana, where rain events are common during rice maturation, long and medium grain rice experienced a significant reduction in HRY when rice dropped below 15.0% to 19.8% HMC depending on variety and year of harvest (Jodari and Lindscombe, 1996). A warmer and drier harvest season caused fissuring to begin at higher HMC than a cooler and more humid season. In two harvest seasons in Arkansas with numerous rain events, HRY was not affected by harvest moistures between 15% and 22% (Siebenmorgen et al., 1992).In California's rice production area, rain is rare and maximum HRY for medium-grain rice is obtained at high HMC. Kester et al. (1963) concluded that the highest HRY is obtained at 25% to 32% HMC. Morse et al. (1967) indicated that HRY peaks between 26% and 30% HMC. Geng et al. (1984) analyzed commercial data, and they concluded that high variability prevented them from finding a narrow range of HMC for high HRY and that HRY was maximum between 25% ±5% HMC. Commercial quality data for California medium-grain rice (D. Jones, Farmers Rice Cooperative, Sacramento, Cal., personal communication, 1999) clearly showed that HMC explains only a small portion of the variability in HRY, as described by the low regression coefficient for a second-order polynomial regression line ( fig. 1). While maximum HRY was obtained at HMCs above 20%, lots below 18% HMC had nearly the same quality, and lots above 22% moisture had HRY values of less than 50%. The data show that in commercial practice HMC was not a good predictor of HRY, and apparently there must be other variables influencing rice quality.A great deal of research beginning the 1930s showed that paddy rice kernels fissure when dried below a critical moisture content and then rehydrate because of exposure to free moisture or high humidity, (Kunze, 1993;Siebenmorgen et al., 1998;Lan et al., 1999). The fissured kernels break during milling, causing low HRY in lots with high amounts of fissured kernels. At harvest, individual kernels vary widely in moisture (Siebenmorgen et al., 1992), and if the pattern of moisture distribution varies because of varying cultural practices or weather conditions, the proportion of kernels below the critical moisture may be a better indicator of HRY than average moisture. Geng et al. (1984) indicated that cycles of drying and moisture absorption may influence quality, but they did no...