Comparison of self propelled forage harvesters in maize harvesting

Forage harvesters should chop crop mass to particles having short and uniform lengths. Length distribution of forage particles represents an important parameter for ruminant's diet formulation, especially for dairy cattle. During silage production, harvest considerations should be focused to obtaining the adequate particle size distribution of the ensiling crop particles. This paper presents the results of mining studies of three different forage harvesters at harvesting maize for silage preparation. The aim of this testing is to determine the operational characteristics and quality of the following forage harvesters Claas Jaguar 675, Zmaj 350 and John Deere 5820. The average yield of the mass was about 26 t ha(-1). Based on these results, it is concluded that the losses due to cutting height range from 3.83% to 5.97%. Clear relation between working velocity of forage harvesters and losses caused by inappropriate cutting height was proved. These two parameters are directly proportional, i. e. their connection is strong (R-2 = 0.88) and linear. All three harvesters achieved fairly acceptable cut lengths of harvested maize particles. However, experimental results verify the operational supremacy of forage harvesters Class Jaguar 675 and John Deere 5820 with relation to the long used forage harvester Zmaj 350. The minimum deviation achieved for long chopped mass in relation to the setting, was recorded when storing silage with silage Claas Jaguar 675 in which the average length of chopped mass was 9.97 mm, where as for the fraction of length up to 10 mm was 69.87%.