Evaluation of the degree of straw stemps decomposition as the criteria of quality of crushing the straw by the chopper for combine harvester

One of the important factors for accelerating the process of humification of plant residues and reducing the quality requirements for the technological process of chopping straw, when using it as an organic fertilizer, is the degree of destruction of the stems. In this paper, we propose a technique for estimating the degree of longitudinal splitting of straw stems during grinding. This is one of the requirements for agrotechnical indicators of the operation of straw choppers of grain harvesters. The method establishes a comparative determination of the degree of splitting of the stems. This is the amount of moisture absorbed by the hanging of crushed straw of a certain length. The results of the preliminary methodical experiment showed positive results. The proposed method for determining the degree of splitting of stalks of straw by the method of moisture saturation is reliable and practical in use. The proposed method is simple, accurate, and there is no requirement for special equipment. Using the moisture saturation coefficient, it is established that the degree of grinding of the stems that descended from the Don-1500 combine harvesters, the Acros 550 and John Deere W650, is 34.2... 57.8%. This is for different crops. A requirement is formulated for the quality of the technological operation for grinding and distributing straw over the surface of the field. It consists in the fact that the longitudinal splitting of the stalks must not be less than 30%.