Abstract
Aim of study: The study aimed to examine the technical and economic performances of two different shredders for three windrow densities of pomegranate residues.Area of study: The study was conducted in the Serik District of Antalya Province, Turkey.Material and methods: Two different pruning residue shredders driven by tractor power take off (PTO) were used. Machine‑I has pick‑up, shredding, screen units. Machine‑II only has a shredding unit. The experiment was conducted at windrow densities of 1.49, 2.10, and 2.41 kg/m2 in a pomegranate orchard; the study used a completely randomized split‐plot design with two treatments and three replications.Main results: The power values for the increasing windrow densities were 8.00, 11.73, and 18.47 kW/m for Machine-I and 5.08, 5.68, and 6.48 kW/m for Machine-II. Moreover, the average particle length of 68.6 mm shredded by Machine‑I was approximately 20 mm smaller than that of Machine‑II. The minimum unit energy value of Machine-II was 2.53 kWh/t at the maximum windrow density of 2.41 kg/m2. This value for Machine-I was 5.58 kWh/t at the medium windrow density of 2.10 kg/m2. The lowest unit cost for Machine-I and Machine-II was calculated as 27.2-7.1 US$/t (at medium density) and 16.8-3.5 US$/t (at maximum density), respectively.Research highlights: The appropriate windrow densities for Machine-I and Machine-II were different in terms of energy requirements and total unit cost. Machine-I is more effective at consistently chopping the residues than Machine-II, but it requires more energy and a higher unit cost.
Highlights
Fruit production has an important place in among the agricultural cultivation branches
Many studies focusing on different pruning residues have been conducted in different countries
The present study aimed to compare and contrast the technical and economic performance of two different shredders driven by power take off (PTO) in order to improve soil properties
Summary
The PTO power, area and material capacity, unit energy, particle length and machinery cost values of two shredders were determined and compared in terms of their technical and economic performance. The measured torque (Nm), rotational speed (min-1), calculated PTO power (kW), and elapsed time values can be monitored in real time. Time consumption was measured with a chronometer through the plot length of 30 m, and the forward speed was calculated Both machines chopped the pruning residues at a speed of. Area (ha/h) and material capacities (t/h) were calculated using forward speed, the orchard’s row spacing, field efficiency, and densities of residue per unit area. The energy requirement per unit mass (kWh/t) was calculated by dividing the required power during the shredding operations by the material capacity values. The labour cost and the other data used in the equations were calculated by considering the field experiment and Turkish market conditions
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