DETERMINATION OF HARVESTING LOSSES, FIELD CAPACITY AND ENERGY CONSUMPTION FOR DIFFERENT RICE COMBINE HARVESTERS

Abstract

According to the type and specification of each combine harvester, losses, field capacities and energy required may vary. Hence, studying different parameters which may cause losses and affect combine performance are important. So, field evaluation to measure combine losses, fuel consumption and field capacity was conducted at International Rice Research Institute, Los Banos, Philippines during dry season 2014. Four different rice combine harvesters with different threshing systems and configurations including one head-feed combine (Kubota ER 232) and three whole-crop combines [Wintersteiger, CLAAS Crop Tiger: axial-tangential flow (TAF) and Thai combine] were assessed on split-split two level randomized block design with four replications. Each combine operated under two levels of forward speeds (lower and higher) to harvest two different rice varieties (NSIC RC222 and NSIC RC238). Measurements for each combine included major components of losses [shattering losses, blower/screen losses (rear-end losses) and unstrapped losses] and field capacity. Fuel consumption was recorded for Kubota and CLAAS combine. All combine Harvesters run under same harvesting condition. Results revealed that average values of shattering and unstrapped losses ranged from 1 to 24.11 and from 0.12 to 7.22 % of yield respectively. All combine harvesters lead up to cause higher shattering losses when operated at lower speeds compared to higher speeds. Maximum blower/screen losses (rear-end losses) recorded was 2.26 % of yield by using CLAAS to harvest NSIC RC238, while minimum value was 0.24 % of yield and obtained when Kubota harvested NSIC RC238 variety. The maximum averages of blower/screen losses (rear-end losses) value recorded with Wintersteiger and Thai combines were 1.04 and 1.58 % of yield respectively. Average harvesting capacity were 0.473, 0.424, 0.400 and 0.380 ha h-1 for Kubota, Thai, Wintersteiger and Class combine respectively when operated at higher forward speed to harvest both varieties. For CLAAS combine, fuel consumption varied from 52.481 to 100.191 l ha-1, while for Kubota, fuel consumption varied from 7.396 to 29.586 l ha-1. Minimum engine power required to run Kubota and its consumed energy were 7.94 hp and 23.37 kW.h ha-1 respectively when harvested NSIC RC238, maximum engine power required was 23.66 when Kubota used to harvest NSIC RC222 with 93.49 kW.h ha-1 consumed energy. For CLAAS, minimum engine power required was 27.66 hp to harvest NSIC RC238 at higher speed with 165.84 kW.h ha-1 consumed energy, while the maximum engine power required was 45.32 hp to harvest NSIC RC222 at lower speed with 316.6 kW.h ha-1 consumed energy.