Quantificação das perdas na cultura da soja em função das plataformas de corte e da velocidade de deslocamento

Abstract

With the increase in global demand for food, soybean stands out as one of the primary raw materials produced in Brazil. However, several factors affect soybean yield, especially in mechanized systems, particularly at the harvest stage. Given this context, this study aimed to monitor the operational quality of mechanized harvesting in the soybean crop as a function of Draper and Caracol cutting platforms, as well as travel speed, and to quantify the losses associated with these factors. The research was carried out in a commercial area in the western region of the state of Paraná, in the municipality of Entre Rios do Oeste, located at geographical coordinates (24º 43' S and 54º 14' W) and at an altitude of 260 meters. The experimental design followed the premises of Statistical Quality Control (SQC), in which losses were collected every 50 meters, totaling 15 sampling points per treatment. Six treatments were evaluated, resulting from combining two cutting platforms (auger or snail and track or draper) and three harvester travel speeds (4, 5, and 6 km h1 ). Losses were quantified using a two m² rectangular frame. The quality indicators analyzed were total losses. Statistical analyses were carried out using individual value control charts, a CEQ quality tool. In addition, an economic analysis of losses in terms of profit was carried out based on the quantifications obtained for each treatment. The main results were that treatment 4 (4 km h-1 ) using the draper platform had the lowest loss values, and treatment 3 (6 km h-1 ) using the snail cutting platform had the highest loss values. It was concluded that as travel speed increased, so did the loss values. Furthermore, using the draper-cutting deck makes it possible to reduce losses by around 36.44% compared to the snail-cutting deck.