Palavras-chave:Controle estatístico de processo (CEP). Desempenho operacional. Perdas na colheita. Recolhedoratrilhadora.ABSTRACT -Among the production stages of the bean plant, harvesting is one of the most important, because it can decisively affect both quality and production costs. Thus, the objective was to assess quality in the mechanized harvesting of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), grown under conventional tillage and no-tillage systems. The variables analysed were: the noise level emitted, calculated using a sound-pressure meter; the operational performance, by monitoring fuel consumption, wheel-slippage, and displacement velocity of the machine, all collected digitally (datalogger); and the harvesting operation with regard to the dry matter and density of stubble, and to crop losses. The speed and the hourly and operational fuel consumption showed normal data distribution, while the noise level showed a skewed distribution. Losses in the mechanical harvesting of the beans, and stubble density, showed low variability and normal distribution. Therefore, only the hourly consumption and production of stubble dry-matter, showed unstable behavior in relation to the statistical process control, while the other indicators showed it possible to maintain quality in the harvesting operation under both conventional tillage and no-tillage systems.

Assuring the quality of mechanical soybean harvesting is crucial to ensure that investment in other stages of crop production is converted into profit for the farmer. Because the quality of this operation is related to decreased losses, which may be affected by the combine header used and by the harvesting speed, the aim of the present study was to assess the quality of mechanical soybean harvesting in the Southern Cone of Rondônia, using harvesters with different combine headers and travel speeds via statistical process control. The experiment was performed during the 2015/16 harvest in an agricultural area of the municipality of Cabixi, RO, located at the geographical coordinates 13° 27’ S and 60° 41’ W. The study was designed based on the premises of the statistical process control, sampling 80 points 100 m apart. Combine header, internal, total, and cutting height losses were assessed. Quality of the harvesting process was assessed using the draper header. Travel speed had little effect on process quality. Crop losses were higher than the acceptable limit, indicating the need to improve the process.

RESUMO:A colheita mecanizada de cana-de-açúcar é uma tendência crescente e irreversível ao setor canavieiro, devido à sua maior operacionalidade durante os turnos diurno e noturno, em razão das leis ambientais e trabalhistas ligadas a esta operação. Entretanto, o grande desafio deste sistema é a melhoria do mecanismo de corte de base, uma vez que esse mecanismo é capaz de causar elevados índices de danos e abalos nas soqueiras quando associado ao desgaste das facas do mecanismo de corte basal. Diante do exposto, objetivou-se, neste trabalho, avaliar a qualidade do corte basal por meio dos índices de danos e abalos causados às soqueiras, bem como o desgaste de três modelos de facas do mecanismo de corte basal de cana-de-açúcar, em função do tempo de uso. O delineamento estatístico utilizado foi o inteiramente casualizado, utilizando-se de três malhas amostrais, com espaçamentos de 50,0 x 1,50 m entre si, para cada modelo de faca, em diferentes glebas no mesmo talhão e repetições. As avaliações realizadas foram: perda de massa, desgaste do comprimento, largura e espessura do fio de corte das facas, bem como altura de corte, índice de danos e de abalos às soqueiras. A qualidade do corte basal é a fetada pelo modelo de faca utilizado e pelo tempo de uso. A faca B apresenta menor variação e maior qualidade do corte basal para os índices de danos e de abalos às soqueiras de cana-de-açúcar. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: danos às soqueiras, controle estatístico de processo, colheita mecanizada. BASAL CUT QUALITY IN SUGARCANE PLANTS USING THREE KNIFE MODELSABSTRACT: Sugarcane mechanized harvesting is a growing and irreversible trend towards sugarcane industry because of the increased workability during night and day shifts besides requirements of environmental and labor laws related to this operation. However, a major challenge is to improve basal cutting mechanism, since it may increase sugarcane stool damages and jolts combined with knife wear. Given the above, we aimed to evaluate basal cut quality through damage and jolt indexes in sugarcane stool, as well as wear of three knife models that are used in basal cut mechanism along run time. The experimental design was completely randomized, using three sample meshes with spacing of 50.0 x 1.50 m for each knife type at different plots over the same field stand with replications. We assessed weight loss, wear length, width and thickness of the cutting knives and cutting height, stool damage and jolt rates. It was found that basal cut quality is affected by knife model and run time. The knife B showed less variation and higher cut quality for damage and jolt rates in sugarcane stool.

Statistical process control in mechanized farming is a new way to assess operation quality. In this sense, we aimed to compare three statistical process control tools applied to losses in sugarcane mechanical harvesting to determine the best control chart template for this quality indicator. Losses were daily monitored in farms located within Triângulo Mineiro region, in Minas Gerais state, Brazil. They were carried over a period of 70 days in the 2014 harvest. At the end of the evaluation period, 194 samples were collected in total for each type of loss. The control charts used were individual values chart, moving average and exponentially weighted moving average. The quality indicators assessed during sugarcane harvest were the following loss types: full grinding wheel, stumps, fixed piece, whole cane, chips, loose piece and total losses. The control chart of individual values is the best option for monitoring losses in sugarcane mechanical harvesting, as it is of easier result interpretation, in comparison to the others.KEYWORDS: quality, agricultural mechanization, moving average, EWMA. MONITORAMENTO DAS PERDAS NA COLHEITA MECANIZADA DE CANA-DE-AÇÚCAR POR CARTAS DE CONTROLERESUMO: O controle estatístico de processo aplicado em operações agrícolas mecanizadas representa uma nova maneira de avaliar a qualidade com que as operações são realizadas. Neste sentido, objetivou-se neste trabalho comparar três tipos de ferramentas do controle estatístico de processo aplicadas às perdas na colheita mecanizada de cana-de-açúcar, para determinar qual o melhor modelo de carta de controle a ser utilizado para este indicador de qualidade. O monitoramento das perdas na colheita mecanizada foi realizado diariamente nas áreas agrícolas, de uma unidade produtora na região do Triângulo Mineiro -MG, durante o período de 70 dias, na safra de 2014. Ao final do período de avaliação, foram coletados 194 pontos amostrais no total, para cada tipo de perda analisado. As cartas de controle utilizadas foram: carta de valores individuais, média móvel e média móvel exponencialmente ponderada. Os indicadores de qualidade avaliados durante a colheita de cana-de-açúcar foram as perdas do tipo: rebolo inteiro, tocos, pedaço fixo, cana inteira, lascas, pedaços soltos e totais. A carta de controle de valores individuais é a melhor opção para o monitoramento das perdas na colheita mecanizada de cana-de-açúcar, por apresentar maior facilidade na interpretação dos resultados, em relação às demais. PALAVRAS-CHAVE:qualidade, mecanização agrícola, média móvel, MMEP.

Advances in agricultural technology have led to the development of active remote sensing equipment that can potentially estimate components of crop production; however, this assessment is still in its early stages for the peanut crop. The objective of this study was to evaluate the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) generated by a terrestrial sensor and its relationship with agronomic variables of peanut crops grown at different densities. The parameters evaluated were the NDVI, pod yield, mass of 100 grains, green and dry mass and vegetation cover. The study was conducted in an experimental field and used a randomized block design with plots consisting of four plant populations (86,111, 103,520, 127,603 and 141,144 plants ha -1 ) with six replicates per treatment. The two densest populations of peanut plants showed similar behavior among the variables analyzed, whereas the variables of vegetation cover, yield and plant population strongly correlated with the NDVI obtained by the terrestrial sensor. For the seeding rates, the higher densities (14 and 18 seeds m -1 ) are the most recommended because showed the highest values of productivity and vegetation cover. The results indicated that the NDVI obtained through the GreenSeeker sensor can be used to estimate productivity, vegetation cover and plant population on peanut crop. This may provide an additional tool for farmers to evaluate the potential of their culture; enabling even that agronomic measures can take effect so that this potential is improved.

Thedigging of peanut, which has the pod production in the subsurface, is directly affected by soil conditions, physical or environmental characteristics, at the time of operation and may be the cause of unwanted losses. Therefore, the quality of the operation is very important for minimizing these losses. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the quality of mechanizeddiggingoperation of peanut according to three soil textural classes(Sandy, Medium and Loamy) and their water content conditions at operation through statistical process control. The experiment was conducted at three locations in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, under sampling scheme arranged in tracks and 40 sampling points for each textural class of soil, using the mechanical digging variables as indicators of quality. We found that the mechanized digging operation in Sandy soil was the most critical, just meeting the specifications of quality indicators, reflecting higher losses and lower quality of the operation. Medium soil showed at the digginggood and homogeneous conditions in relation to water content in soil and pods, and because it has favorable characteristics it obtained the lower total losses and higher quality of operation. Loamy soil showed satisfactory quality, meeting the specifications as well, but with poorer quality than the Medium Soil.

The quality control is used for the evaluation of processes and products, and it is important to detect and reduce variability and in operations management can be applied in mechanized harvesting of sugarcane billets. In this sense, this study aimed to identify critical quality indicators and, if necessary, to develop a continuous improvement plan for harvest of sugarcane billets. For the survey and definition of critical quality indicators the FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) was applied, after the formation of the quality technical team. Evaluations of the collected variables were through control charts of individual values and the process capability indexes. There are 8 critical quality indicators in the billets harvesting process; the cutting height, the damage index, the percentage of non-viable buds and operating speed have greater importance for analysis due to the risk priority index and the easiness of obtaining data for analysis. The development of the improvement plan aims to reduce the variability due to crop billets, thus, making it able to perform the operation within the required quality standards.

R E S U M OA operação de colheita mecanizada de sementes demanda que as regulagens das colhedoras sejam dinâmicas, fato que afeta diretamente a qualidade da operação e dos grãos colhidos. Desta forma, o objetivo do presente trabalho foi monitorar, em intervalos regulares de tempo, a qualidade da operação de colheita de sementes de soja realizada simultaneamente por duas colhedoras de grãos, com emprego do controle estatístico de qualidade (CEQ). O trabalho foi realizado em um campo de produção de sementes na região de Catalão, GO, onde foram monitorados o desempenho operacional das colhedoras, as perdas quantitativas na colheita e as perdas qualitativas das sementes. Observou-se que as colhedoras monitoradas operaram em condições semelhantes porém as regulagens na folga do cilindro e na rotação do rotor otimizaram os índices de perdas mantendo a qualidade das sementes colhidas. Assim, todos os índices de perda avaliados, tanto as perdas quantitativas como os valores das perdas qualitativas, se encontraram dentro dos limites de controle estatístico o que permite se atribuir qualidade e confiabilidade para a operação de colheita mecanizada de sementes. Monitoring of mechanized harvest operation of soybean seeds A B S T R A C TThe mechanized operation of harvesting seeds demands that the adjustments of harvesters should be dynamic, which directly affects the quality of the operation and the harvested grain. Thus, the objective of this study was to monitor, at regular intervals of time, the quality operation of harvesting of soybean seeds held simultaneously by two combine harvesters, with use of statistical control quality (SCQ). The study was conducted in a field of seed production in the region of Catalan, GO, Brazil, where the operational performance of harvesters, quantitative crop losses and qualitative losses of seeds were monitored. It was observed that the monitored harvesters were operated under similar conditions, but the adjustments in the cylinder and in the rotor rotation optimized the indexes of losses, maintaining the quality of harvested seeds. Thus, all evaluated indexes of losses both quantitative losses as the values of qualitative losses were within the limits of statistical control, which allows assigning quality and reliability for operation of mechanized harvesting of seeds. Palavras-chave:Glycine max colhedora de grãos perdas na colheita controle estatístico de qualidade (CEQ)