1 G.B.Pant University of Agri. & Tech., Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttaranchal).
2 Department of Farm Machinery & Power Engg., College of Technology, Pantnagar-263 145 (Uttaranchal)
Increased mechanization has made the straw recovery and its utilization difficult for the farmers. The use of grain combine harvester in rice-wheat regions of India is increasing at a faster pace. Off-field utilization of paddy and wheat straws continues to get attention due to concerns regarding environmental impacts from open field burning of the crop residues for its disposal. The field baler is recent introduction in India for recovery of combine-harvested straw for its utilization either as animal feed or by paper and board making industries. The knowledge of straw availability and losses are of paramount importance for determination of economics of the system. The study conducted on three wheat varieties has revealed that at the prevailing height of cut of 35–90 cm by combine, the straw availability was in the range of 1400–2000 kgDM/ha out of potential straw availability of 4900–6400 kg DM/ha. Also the average linear density of swath was found to be about 0.98 kgDM/m as against reguired density of 1.72 kgDM/m for full loading of baler, thereby, suggesting the introduction of field rakes for windrowing or lowering the height of cut of combine.
