Optimisation of the harvesting time of rice in moist and non-moist dispersed fields

Abstract

Optimisation of the harvesting time of rice is significant for wheat growth and reducing the operational cost of harvesting rice in wheat-rice rotation regions. In China, rice grows in discontinuous and dispersed fields, and it is harvested with combine-harvesters provided by an agricultural machinery cooperative. The dispersed fields are divided into two types, moist and non-moist. The moist fields can be harvested only by a crawler-harvester, and the non-moist farmlands can be harvested by a crawler-harvester or a wheeled harvester. The objective of the agricultural machinery cooperative is to minimise the harvesting time of the rice. Minimising the differences in the operational time between different types of combine-harvesters is constrained. In this study, we proposed an operational model that considers using two different types of combine-harvester to harvest rice in dispersed fields with different soil moisture levels. Three versions of this operational model were derived for different types of farmland. Actual data from a village in Bengbu city were used to parameterise the model. The results indicate that optimisation significantly decreased the harvesting time of rice. The characteristics of the operational time of combine-harvesters are discussed separately to promote the efficient use of combine-harvesters.