Analysis and comparison of wheat losses in two harvesting methods

Abstract

Wheat losses in John Deere 955 combine was compared between stripper header and conventional header.  Tests were conducted in a wheat field.  At first for comparison, the optimum working condition was obtained for both type of headers and then other parameters are compared. Results showed that the optimum working condition of combine with a second gear and mediate engine speed for stripper header was obtained with 75 cm for hood distance, 60 cm for header distance and 760 rmin^-1for rotor speeds.  In stripper header, the total loss of different parts of combine was under 3.5%, although these losses in conventional header reached up to 6.5% which was the highest loss for headers.  Number and weight of lost cluster in harvesting with stripper header was much less than conventional header.

Keywords: wheat, stripper header, conventional header, rotor speed, loss