FIELD PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A STUBBLE CUTTING MACHINE COUPLED WITH A WINDROW GATHERING SYSTEM

Abstract

Stubble left in the field after harvest is a by-product in rice production systems. Presently, most of the stubble is burned in the field or mulched in the soil. In areas where the requirement for straw exceeds supply, stubble collection is carried out. With the height of stubble after harvesting of 25.3 cm, the available stubble yield is 3.1 ton/ha at a moisture content of 12%. In previous research, the use of a combine harvester to cut stubble simultaneously with harvesting was found to be inappropriate because of improperly designed equipment for this purpose. Thus, cutting and gathering stubble is still a challenge because of technological and economic reasons. In this study, the performance of a rice stubble cutting machine coupled with a windrow gathering system was evaluated along with an economic analysis of the use of the machine. We found that the machine performed well in the field with a capacity of 0.5 ha/h and the maximum rotary moment for driving the cutting disc was 168 N.m, corresponding to 14.1 HP at cutting speed of 52.3 m/s. At the cutting height of 4.9 cm, collected stubble yield was 2.0 ton/ha with the stubble loss in field of 7.3%. Using the machine for stubble cutting and gathering not only contributes to increasing rice farmers’ income but has the added benefit of avoiding in-field burning of stubble that causes air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.