Determination of the Force Required for Stripping the Wheat Ear

Abstract

Introduction. The force required for stripping the ear is one of important parameters characterizing the process of stripping. The force varies within certain limits depending on the type of plant, grain moisture, and structural and morphological parameters of the ear. A series of experiments was carried out to determine forces of different types of wheat stripping. Materials and Methods.Experimental studies were carried out in the Kaluga Oblast in the fields of Kaluga Research Institute of Agriculture. The study dealt with wheat varieties “Kasar”, “Moskovskaya 56”, and “Moskovskaya 40”. Ear parameters were estimated directly before testing as structural and morphological parameters of the ear can change significantly depending on growing conditions. It was suggested that such parameters as the width and thickness of the ear affect the process of the latter interaction with stripping fingers. Results. Forces of stripping the said wheat varieties were obtained using stripping fingers with a gap of 5–7 mm. Stripping forces of the “Kasar” wheat varied from 17,4 to 24,2 N, under conditions of the gap of 6 mm, and from 13,4 to 16,8, with the gap of 7 mm. Discussion and Conclusion. Dependence of the stripping force on the gap width of stripping fingers was confirmed by results of our experiments. Forces varied in the range of 16,5–20,6 N when stripping off “Moskovskaya 40” wheat in the case of the gap of 5 mm and 8,1–14 N in the case of the 7-mm gap. The effect of such ear parameters as the width, thickness and density was established.