Quantitative losses in mechanized harvesting corn crop in small footprint and conventional

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the quantitative losses occurred in the mechanical harvesting of the corn grown in conventional and reduced gaps. The experimental design was randomized blocks with three replications and treatments distributed in a factorial (2 x 3 x 3), and two spacings (0.45 m and 0.90 m), three speeds of the combine (1.8 km.h-1 3.5 km.h-1 and 4.1 km.h-1) and three openings of the concave (25 mm, 30 mm and 35 mm). For treatments where the spacing was 0.45 m, the harvester worked with a power of two lines dividing line between the platform crop while in treatments where the spacing was 0.90 m, the harvester worked with a power dividing line between a line of platform. The plant population was the same for the two spacings used in the experiment. The natural losses were higher in the conventional spacing, but the header losses of harvest had the lowest use this space at a speed of 3.5 km.h-1. As maiores perdas ocorreram nos mecanismos internos da colhedora ocorreu quando se utiliza a abertura côncava de 30 mm a uma velocidade de 3,5 km.h-1. Total losses accounted for 8.2% and 7.3% of the average productivity in the gaps of 0.45 m 0.9 m respectively.