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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #74993
Title: HARVESTING EQUIPMENT DEVELOPMENTS

Author
item HUMMEL, JOHN

Submitted to: Midwest Soybean Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/3/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Efficient soybean harvesting requires low cutting heights, since pods are attached along the entire length of the soybean stalk. Maintaining low cutting heights is more difficult as combine platform headers have become wider. We investigated the use of a high-speed header, capable of harvesting at higher travel speeds, as a way to maintain harvesting rates with a narrower cutting width. We also tested a lateral float attachment that allowed a wide header to follow the ground surface and maintain low cutting heights across its width. Our results showed that the lateral float option was not effective in reducing soybean harvest losses when dry soil conditions prevailed at harvest. Soybean harvest losses with the high-speed header at 5 and 7 mph were comparable to the losses with a conventional platform header at 3 mph. Soybean producers can use this information when they select options during the purchase of new harvesting equipment. Equipment manufacturers may want to consider these results when looking at development of new headers for narrow-row soybeans

Technical Abstract: An experimental gathering unit for high-speed harvesting of narrow-row soybeans was developed and tested. The unit consisted of a rotary disc mower equipped with air-jet guards to move the soybean plants into the feed auger of the combine. Field tests showed that the header losses for the experimental gathering unit at travel speeds of 2.3 and 3.2 m/s were not significantly different from header losses for a platform header also equipped with air-jet guards, at a travel speed of 1.4 m/s. Tests were conducted to measure the crop loss reduction due to the use of lateral header flotation on a combine header. Results showed no soybean loss reduction due to lateral float usage when dry soil conditions prevailed in smooth, uniform central Illinois fields.