14—Lancaster Farming. Saturday, March 1. 1975
Research Focuses On
Soybean Harvest Loss
Reducing Soybean
Harvesting losses
losses of
normally
Harvesting
soybeans
amounting to nearly 10
percent of the crop-can be
reduced substantially
through improved combine
design.
One innovation for im
proving efficiency of com
bines is an air-conveyor
header developed by
agricultural engineer W.
Ralph Nave, in cooperation
with colleagues of the Illinois
Agricultural Experiment
Station, Urbana. Mr. Nave,
of USDA’s Agricultural
Research Service, installed
air jets several inches ahead
of a floating cutterbar to help
insure a smooth flow of plant
material and shattered
beans over the cutterbar and
onto an extended grain
platform. In field tests, the
combine modification
reduced harvest loss to less
than 3 percent of the yield
when beans contained 12
percent moisture.
The engineering
development may become
one of few improvements in
soybean harvesting since the
1920’5. In 1927, an on-farm
survey by researchers of the
Illinois Station showed that
harvest losses of soybeans in
the State averaged 11.6
percent of the crop. In a 1968
survey of Illinois, Arkansas,
and Mississippi farms, Mr.
Nave and Illinois
agricultural engineers found
average losses were still
high-9 2 percent.
Since soybeans became a
major crop m the United
States, the standard gram
combine has been less than
ideal for Mr.
Nave says, because
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ATTENTION FARMERS
/ am inviting you to an
FARMERS MEETING
At Trainer’s Restaurant,
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 1975
11:00 A.M.
Free Meal Served
Discussion on "Cutting Feed and Fertilizer
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717-866-6710
soybeans are physically
unlike small grains. Con
sequently design change is
needed.
Design change, however,
is not all that is needed to
curtail harvest loss, Mr.
Nave adds. In the 1968
survey he observed that
some farmers lost up to 2
bushels of soybeans per acre
because of improper ad
justments of their combines.
Another major loss was
soybeans left on the stubble.
Harvest loss, Mr. Nave says,
can sometimes be reduced
by as much as 25 percent if a
farmer has a floating cut
terbar and watches his
cutting height closely. But
the survey showed that the
biggest losses always oc
curred at the combine
header.
To identify causes of
combine header losses, Mrr
Nave used several
techniques. One was to film
the action of header com
ponents-cutterbar, cross
auger, and reel-with a high
speed movie camera
mounted on the combine. In
the movies, soybeans could
be seen in slow motion,
shattering, bouncing, and
rolling toward the ground.
For field studies, he also
built a pull-type framework
containing header com
ponents. By removing parts
of the apparatus, he could
study losses caused by
movement and vibration of
the components.
Employing the ex
perimental header on three
varieties of soybeans grown
in central Illinois, Mr. Nave
cut the plants about 316 in
ches above the ground and
found that the cutterbar was
accountable for about 81
percent of the header loss.
The reel and cross auger
accounted for 6 and 13
percent, respectively.
Based on this informaiton,
Mr. Nave built a header test
stand in the laboratory and
tested the theory of using
compressed air to prevent
shattered beans from lan
ding on the ground. With the
indoor arrangement, he was
not dependent upon weather
and had control of variable
conditions of significance to
the study.
Plant material was stored,
until use, under controlled
humidity and temperature.
Soybean stalks, with their
bases clamped between two
boards, could be conveyed to
the operating header
assembly at simulated
ground speeds of combines.
The most practical and
effective use of compressed
air proved to be directing air
at a velocity of 2,500 feet per
minute toward the cutterbar
from nozzles positioned 15
inches apart and 6 inches in
front of the cutterbar, Mr.
Nave said.
Harvest losses were
reduced significantly only
when beans were dry enough
to harvest without need for
artificial drying. When the
laboratory unit was
equipped with air jets and a
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standard cuttcrbar, header
loss of beans containing 13
percent moisture was
reduced to 25 percent of the
loss observed without air
jets. Air Jets and a floating
cutterbar, together reduced
loss by 45 percent.
One season's results of
field testing in 30-inch
soybean rows have com
pared closely with
laboratory data, Mr. Nave
said.
In harvesting narrower (8-
inch) rows, Mr. Nave and
ARS agronomist Richard L.
Cooper are finding that even
more shattered soybeans
can be saved by the air jets.
Plants in the narrow rows
were more evenly spaced
than those in wide rows,
allowing the air stream to
work more smoothly.
In harvesting plots of
soybeans in narrow rows, the
scientists noted that skid
pads on the floating cut
terbar do not ride a definite
row of stubble as they do on
both cultivated and non
cultivated wider rows.
Accordingly, the stubble is
cut closer to the ground,
saving some beans.
Unfortunately, soybeans
planted in low population
and narrow rows tend to set
pods close to the ground, and
the cutterbar sickle cuts
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