Quantificação de perdas de grãos na colheita mecanizada do arroz irrigado em Alegrete/RS

Abstract

The present work had as objective to evaluate the quantitative losses of grains in the moment of the mechanized harvest of the irrigated rice culture, in different conditions and to observe if operational factors influenced in the quantitative of the losses. The survey was carried out on twenty harvesters in different crops located in the municipality of Alegrete/RS. The cutting header, the pre-harvest losses (natural), the losses in the internal mechanisms and the total losses in the harvest were determined. The grains were harvested with an average humidity of 21.2% wet basis. In the study, technical visits were made, noting all the harvest data, from the machine and cultivar data, to the harvester settings. From the applied methodology, it was possible to analyze the total grain losses in the harvest and propose an ideal regulation to minimize it. According to the bibliography, it is known that the acceptable percentage is 90 kg ha-1 . The results showed that 85% of the harvesters used had an acceptable percentage of losses, with an average of 84.15 kg ha-1 . The losses in the cutting deck were quantitatively greater than the losses in the internal mechanisms. With the results, it was possible to conclude that there was no linear adjustment of losses as a function of harvest speed, specific changes were observed in grain losses by the harvesters.