Dano mecânico imediato e impurezas em sementes de soja colhidas com sistema Combine Advisor®

Abstract

Soybean cultivation is of great economic and social importance in the northwestern region of Rio Grande do Sul and in Brazil, generating many direct and indirect jobs. However, the production of quality seeds is of the utmost importance to the success of its cultivation and immediate mechanical damage is one of the main problems faced since it occurs mainly during the seed harvesting operation. The John Deere® S 700 series harvesters provide automation technologies in the regulation of the threshing system, separation, cleaning and operating speed that seek to maintain optimum performance conditions according to changing field conditions. The Combine Advisor® is a package with automation features that, with the help of cameras in the clean grain elevator, the regrind elevator, loss sensors in the sieves and the separator, read the flow and quality of the material and so the system seeks the best setting for the moment of harvest.The aim of this study was to assess possible immediate mechanical damage and impurities when harvesting soybean seeds with a John Deere® S 700 series harvester equipped with the Combine Advisor®system, operating in two soybean fields. The seeds were collected from two fields in the municipality of São Luiz Gonzaga-RS and tested at the seed laboratory of the Federal University of the Southern Frontier - Cerro Largo Campus in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. With the hypochlorite test and the analysis of impurities, it was possible to observe that seeds from crops with an average humidity of 16.5% had 3.68% more immediate mechanical damage and 2.27% less impurities than seeds with an average humidity of 23.34%. The averages for immediate mechanical damage and impurities with Combine Advisor® switched off and on did not differ.