Studies on the Improvement of the Straw Cutter Attached to a Head-Feeding Combine (Part 1)

Development of Straw Splitting Device

Abstract

Barley or wheat straw had been mixed in the soil customarily in double cropping system between rice and barley or wheat. A study was conducted to sink the straw more effectively which usually drifts on the flooded paddy fields after puddling.
Noticing that the sinking rate of split straw is very high, a device to split straw with straw cutter mounted on a head-feeding combine was designed and tested.
The straw splitting device (prototype), equipped with a roll-type cutter having vertical and horizontal ditches with 2mm depth, was developed by improving currently marketed disk-type straw cutter.
In the field test, the device split the straw continuously. The floating rate of the straw after cultivation and puddling was 0.5%, showing exceptionally high performance.