Abstract
ABSTRACT The mechanized sugarcane harvesting process is considered one of the major economic bottlenecks, with low operational efficiency and, mainly, high losses of stalks left in the field. In order to minimize these problems and assist in the improvement of processes, this study aimed to evaluate the losses in the mechanized sugarcane harvesting using statistical process control. The experimental design was completely randomized, based on the methodology of statistical process control with samples collected on five work fronts during the daytime and nighttime operation. The experiment was carried out in an agricultural area of a sugarcane mill in the municipality of Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brazil, on five sugarcane harvest fronts. Losses were measured using a 3.0 × 3.33-m frame, being divided into stump, loose piece + fixed piece, whole sugarcane, fragment, and total losses for each harvest front. The data were grouped into 50 weeks over the sugarcane-growing season, and statistical analyses were performed using the Minitab 16® software. Losses of loose piece + fixed piece were higher than the losses of stump, whole sugarcane, and fragment. The total losses showed higher and lower losses for the fronts F5 and F4, respectively, compared to the others.
Highlights
Among the sugarcane agricultural activities is the mechanized harvesting process, which involves the cutting, loading, and transportation and are considered of greatest economic importance
Considering that the losses in the mechanized sugarcane harvesting present a high variability throughout the growing season in all harvest fronts, this study aimed to monitor these losses through the statistical process control
The results of total losses (Table 2) of the fronts F1, F2, and F3 were similar, with values between 2.7 and 3.0 t ha−1, while the front F4 presented the lowest mean of total losses (2.3 t ha−1) and the front F5 showed the highest mean of total losses (3.9 t ha−1)
Summary
Among the sugarcane agricultural activities is the mechanized harvesting process, which involves the cutting, loading, and transportation and are considered of greatest economic importance. Mechanized sugarcane harvesting presents some inconveniences, such as an increase in the amounts of foreign materials in the raw material, leading to a reduction in the quality of the harvested product, in addition to the stalks and fragments left in the field, characterized as losses resulting from the harvest. The levels of losses may increase greatly if these factors are not properly monitored. Companies of the sugar-energy sector have monitored the losses resulting from the mechanized sugarcane harvesting through field surveys, which allow calculating the arithmetic means of the quantified values. The combination of quantitative surveys and adequate tools for analyzing the monitoring of losses allows the detection of changes in the quality standards determined for the process and a faster resolution for the limiting factors (Silva et al, 2008)
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