Abstract
The crop divider is a key component of sugarcane chopper harvester, which has an important effect on the lifting of lodged canes. In this study, it is important to improve the performance of crop dividers, especially when there is severe lodging of the canes. Liugong 4GQ-180 sugarcane chopper harvester was employed to evaluate the lifting performance of crop dividers. Firstly, a large number of canes at different levels of lodging were observed and the lodging angles and side angles were recorded. Further, the single factor test was conducted to investigate the effect of the lodging angles and side angles on the crop divider performance. The results showed that the lifting height is directly proportional to the lodging angle; however, the lifting height of sugarcane increased initially and then decreased with the increasing side angles. The results of two-way ANOVA revealed that the effect of the lodging angle was more significant than the side angle. In addition, the high-speed photography was analyzed to observe the lifting process of lodged canes. However, in other lodging conditions (α > 75°, or β < 15°, or β > 165°), the lifting effect was still not satisfactory. When cane stalks intertwined seriously, uprooting problems would occur. Therefore, it was necessary to improve the performance of crop dividers in harvesting canes with various levels of lodging.
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Acknowledgements
The research presented in this paper was partially supported by the Major State Research Development Program of China (2016YFD0701200) and China Agricultural University, Institute for New Rural Development Guangxi Fusui Professor Workstation Grant (201805510710115). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CAU (China Agricultural University). The authors would also like to express our gratefulness to Mr. Xiangwei Li, Mr. Xiaobing Huang, Mr. Yuanmin Gan, and Mr. Pingang Wu for their help in the harvesting test.
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Bai, J., Ma, S., Wang, F. et al. Performance of Crop Dividers with Reference to Harvesting Lodged Sugarcane. Sugar Tech 22, 812–819 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-020-00829-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-020-00829-8