Efficiency of alfalfa hay mowing machines under the dryland conditions
Authors
Stanisavljević, Rade
Vuković, Aleksandar
Petrović, Dragan V.

Radojević, Rade L.

Barać, Saša
Mileusnić, Zoran

Tadić, Vjekoslav
Article (Published version)
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This paper presents the tests results of three types of hay mowing machines (later in text: mowers), namely a self-propelled oscillatory mower-conditioner and two tractor-mounted mowers with oscillatory and rotary blades, used to mow alfalfa grown under dry land conditions in the region of central Serbia during three seasons in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Although characterized by older design, they are still commonly used at smaller and medium size farms in this region. Therefore, their optimal exploitation parameters are still of large importance for hay quality and production efficiency and sustainability. The exploitation parameters of all three mowers generally increased linearly with higher speeds, having high R2 values (over 0,8), with rare exceptions. The regression coefficients b clearly showed that the self-propelled mower-conditioner achieved maximum increase in production performance (b = 0,3606), compared with the oscillatory (b = 0,1158) and rotary mowers (b = 0,1414). Mower des...ign had a significant (p ≤ 0,001) effect on cutting and chopping losses, production performance, and specific fuel consumption (p ≤ 0,05). The tests confirmed the superiority of the self-propelled mower over the two mowers aggregated with tractors.
Keywords:
Alfalfa / Harvest / Hay cutting / Hay mowing machines / Working performanceSource:
Tehnicki Vjesnik, 2021, 28, 5, 1503-1510Publisher:
- Strojarski Facultet
Funding / projects:
- Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Republic of Serbia, Grant no. 200116 (University of Belgrade, Faculty of Agriculture) (RS-200116)
- The Improvement and Preservation of Biotechnology Procedures for Rational Energy Use and Improvement of Agricultural Production Quality (RS-31051)
DOI: 10.17559/TV-20200720092823
ISSN: 1846-6168