THE INFLUENCE OF THE WORKING BODIES OF RAKE-SHIFTERS ON MECHANICAL LOSSES DURING HAY PROCUREMENT

Abstract

Drying of mowed grass in the field during hay harvesting is accompanied by loss of not only moisture, but also nutrients by plants as a result of biochemical processes, vital activity of microorganisms, and leaching by precipitation. Moreover, the indicators of the specified losses increase as the length of stay of mown grass in the field increases. It is possible to reduce them due to intensification of drying. An effective way to reduce the drying time is to move the swaths and turn over the swaths of mowed grass. However, the performance of these operations is accompanied by mechanical losses of the dry matter of the grass. The bulk of mechanical losses are "tender", the most valuable parts of plants in terms of fodder - leaves, inflorescences, and other small vegetative organs of plants, which are easily bruised and irrevocably lost. This phenomenon is especially evident in legumes. Mechanical losses exceed all other types of losses and can be from 6 to 27% of the dry matter of the grass. It is possible to reduce them by creating new working bodies that are able to gently act on the grafted grass. One of such working bodies is an elastic working body, which is equipped with a ROS-1 single-rotor roll rotator. The purpose of the research was to conduct comparative laboratory tests of rake-movers, the working bodies of which are made in the form of double spring teeth and an elastic cone-shaped working body, to identify their advantages and disadvantages and to establish rational parameters and modes of operation. It was established that the elastic working body, in comparison with the working bodies made in the form of spring teeth, allows to reduce the upholstering of vegetative parts of plants by 1.20...1.25 times at a grass humidity of 33...35% and by 1.10...1, 18 times at a humidity of 47...50%. With a decrease in the moisture content of the grass, the elastic working body provides a more economical mode of cultivation, which is manifested in a decrease in the covering coefficient. Along with this, the working organs of the rake-movers, made in the form of spring teeth, act more intensively on the mowed grass, which leads to a 10-15% increase in the drying speed compared to the elastic working organ.