LOSSES IN THE CUTTING DECK OF A COMBINED GRAIN HARV ASTER DURING THE SOYBEAN HARVEST

Abstract

Soybean (Glycine max) is one of the most cultivated species in Brazil, with important socioeconomic role and estimated production for the 2011/12 crop of 66.7 million tons. Among the losses in the harvesting process, those caused by the cutting mechanism of the harvester are significant, representing about 85% of total losses during mechanical harvesting. This work was carried out to evaluate the losses in cutting deck on different operating configurations. The study was conducted at the Santa Rosa farm, located in the municipality of Morrinhos-GO, in an area of 58 ha irrigated by center pivot which was sowed variety of IGRA 516 RR. As a source of evaluation of the study, we used a harvester John Deere brand, model 1450. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design in a 2x3 factorial, with two operating speeds and three rotations of the reel and seven repetitions, totaling 42 experimental units. The results show that losses in cutting deck were significant due to the interaction of the factors studied. The best results were obtained when it was used 30 rpm rotation of the reel and 5 km h-1 for forward speed, totaling losses between 25,8 and 54,6 kg ha-1.