Claas has put near-infrared grain analysis on its Lexion combines for the first time. The Nutrimeter Grain option on model-year 2026 machines measures protein in cereals and oil content in rapeseed as the grain flows, opening the way to sorting loads by quality at the store and to more precisely targeted fertiliser.

The company already offers a Nutrimeter on its Jaguar forage harvesters; the grain version draws on patented sensor technology developed at the Technical Research Centre of Finland and commercialised by the spin-off GrainSense, whose hand-held analysers number more than 2,500 in over 40 countries. The breakthrough was a sensor able to read flowing grain rather than static samples.

On the Lexion a bypass in the grain elevator feeds a small stream continuously through an 'integrating ball'. Readings appear on the Cebis terminal and upload to the Claas Connect portal, so trailer loads of milling wheat with different protein contents can be directed to separate bays as they are tipped. The transmissive measurement method is the one used in the grain trade, which should help at the point of sale.

Live maps of the data can inform later variable-rate fertiliser decisions and, in future, allow quality and yield trends to be compared by variety.

Separately, after launches in Australia, Canada and the United States, a 15.3-metre Convio Flex draper header is now available for the biggest Lexions — 24% wider than the Convio 1230 and nearly 11% wider than the 13.8 m version. It keeps the flexible knife, Active Float ground-pressure control adjustable at the touch of a button, a cutterbar that follows contours 90 mm up and 135 mm down in Flex mode, and hydro-pneumatically suspended stabiliser wheels.

Source: Farmers Weekly