1 Department of Agricultural Engineering, Birsa Agricultural University, Kanke Ranchi-834006 (Jharkhand) (Email-
2 Department of Agricultural Engineering, G B. Pant University of Agri. & Tech., Pantnagar-263 145 (Uttaranchal).
Field investigations were carried out on combine harvested paddy crop in order to assess the straw availability at different height of cut and baler performance at three different speeds. The amount of straw found in the first segment (10 cm from root side) amounted to about 1301 kg DM/ha which decreased to 694 kg DM/ha in the fifth segment (40–50 cm). The linear density of swath in a combine harvested field varied from 0.418 to 1.312 kg DM/m and 0.304 to 0.953 kg DM/m for the heights of cut of 24 and 32 cm, respectively as against required density of 1.72 kg DM/m for full loading of baler, thereby, suggesting the introduction of field rakes for windrowing or lowering the height of cut of combine. The average field capacity, field efficiency and fuel consumption of conventional field baler were 1.09ha/h, 70.97% and 3.255 l/h, respectively for the best forward speed of 3.41 km/h. The total straw loss was found to vary from 113.26 to 131.86 kg DM/ha with the increase in speed from 2.89 to 4.50 km/h.
baler, straw combine, combine
