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Testing a Fertilizer Spreader with VRT

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Pp. 232-237 in Proceedings of the World Congress of Computers in Agriculture and Natural Resources (13-15, March 2002, Iguacu Falls, Brazil)  701P0301.(doi:10.13031/2013.8335)
Authors:   J.P. Molin, L.A.A. Menegatti, L.L. Pereira, L.C. Cremonini, M. Evangelista,
Keywords:   Precision farming; variable rate technology; fertilizer spinner box

Fertilizer application tends to be done more frequently before planting, with spreader machines than during it. A spinner box fertilizer spreader with VRT technology was evaluated in three nominal swath widths at three rates. ISO 5690/1 standard was used for transversal distribution analysis applying ureia at 50, 150 and 250 kg/ha and using coefficient of variation of the distribution (CV) calculated with a specialized computer program. The response time for VRT was evaluated with two steps of 50 and 100 kg/ha with a 70 m longitudinal line of collectors on both sides of the machine and the length divided in three parts. The first rate was applied on the first 20 m, followed by an increase in the next 30 m and returning to the original rate in the last 20 m. The swath width of 24 m showed the best results, with CV under 15.0% for all rates with fertilizer rate not affecting the width. At 21 m swath width the CV was above the limit of 15.0%. At 18 m swath width the machine can be used with restriction. The time for rate changes was 3.1s in an increasing step and 5.6 s in an decreasing step. The steps did not influence the response time.

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