Abstract
This study was carried out to develop a shredding-burying machine for application of gramineae green manure crops that were tall and had high biomass yield such as sudan grass and rye. We made a prototype to operate both shredding and burying concurrently to attach at middle-sized tractors. Field tests were performed with the prototype to treat rye and sudan grass. The test results showed that the average cutting length became shorter and the quantity of entwined stem became obviously decreased when the PTO shaft speed was fast and running speed was slow. Also, We found, when the cut stem length became shorter, the burying ratio became more increasing and the PTO power requirement became more decreasing. Working efficiency of the prototype was better than conventional Rotary. The test results for treating rye/sudan grass with prototype showed that average cutting length was 21.2/22.5 cm and burying ratio was 98.4/98.1% when the PTO shaft speed was 1,000/1,000 rpm and running speed was 0.25/0.17 m/s. Also, the working performance of the prototype was 0.79 and 1.14 h/10 a for rye and sudan grass, respectively. Finally, we found that the prototype of shredding-burying machine was better for labor than conventional method that required at least 3 times bigger tractor.
