Date of Award

5-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Plant and Environmental Science

Committee Member

Daniel Anco

Committee Member

Nathan Smith

Committee Member

Aaron Turner

Committee Member

Warren White

Committee Member

Josey Peele

Abstract

A research project was conducted to understand and quantify yield losses and grade/quality associated with peanut combine speed settings. On a peanut harvester, there are two main avenues for potential of peanut losses: losses as associated with the header (where vines enter) and losses associated with the cleanout (where the tailings/trash exit). Variables tested in the three studies included: PTO speed, ground speed, and header speed. These variables were the only settings that were changed throughout the three studies; other important operational settings, such as threshing aggression and cleaning air adjustments, were set to normal operational settings. Results from the PTO speed, ground speed, and header speed tests are highlighted in these studies.The three studies were conducted in Barnwell County, S.C. on commonly grown peanut varieties for regional producers: virginia variety (Bailey) in 2018 and runner variety (FloRun 311) in 2019. Tests were conducted on 4-row wide, 3.86 m (12.67 ft), non-irrigated plots that were 19.20 m (63 ft) in length. Treatments were evaluated using measurements of material throughput, tailings/header losses, grade/quality (loose shelled kernels & foreign material), loan rate value, and yield. For the PTO speed tests, tailings losses increased by 245 kg ha-1 (219 lb ac-1) for the 2018 virginia variety testing and 76 kg ha-1 (68 lb ac-1) for the 2019 runner variety testing per each 10 percent increase in PTO speed, respectively. For the ground speed tests, tailings losses decreased by 44 kg ha-1 for each 1 km hr-1 increase in ground speed (63 lb ac-1 per each 1 mi hr-1 increase in speed) for the 2018 virginia variety testing and decreased by 18 kg ha-1 for each 1 km hr-1 increase in ground speed (26 lb ac-1 per each 1 mi hr-1 increase in speed) in the 2019 runner variety testing. For the header speed tests, header losses showed a decline of 22 kg ha-1 (25 lb ac- 1) for every 15% increase in header speed in the 2018 virginia variety testing and negligible for the 2019 runner variety testing. Header losses were determined to be insignificant for both research years in comparison to tailings losses, overall. Further research across both runner and virginia peanut varieties should be conducted for comparison to the results here and establish a basis for repeatability. The findings from studies such as this one should promote advancements in peanut harvest technologies and increase peanut production profitability, if they are applied to improve combine operator adjustments. Knowledge of yield and grade/quality effects of combine settings will assist producers in making economic decisions for peanut combine operation.

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