Refinement of Wheat Straw Harvester for Paddy Straw Harvesting and Bruising

Abstract

Refinement of a wheat straw harvester was done for chopping of paddy straw. Blower of the wheat straw harvester was replaced by two bruising cylinders and a concave. Pointed knife guards of the cutter bar were replaced with V-shaped serrated blades fixed below the cutting blades. The machine was operated in paddy fields having straw load 6.25 t.ha-1 and 8.58 t.ha-1 at forward speed of 0.55, 0.70, and 0.97 m.s-1. Straw bruising cylinder speeds of 640, 725, and 810 rpm were used. The percentage of chopped straw of size up to 125 mm, weighted mean size of chopped straw, mulch thickness, and coefficient of variation of uniformity of straw spread were in the range of 71.28-86.41%, 57.6-81.2 mm, 53.9-60.0 mm, and 20.54-22.17%, respectively, under all treatment combinations. The fuel consumption and field capacity of the machine were in the range of 8.88-12.08 l.ha-1 and 0.27-0.55 ha.h-1, respectively.