DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF A CORN SILAGE HARVESTER USING SHREDDING AND FLAIL CUTTING

A corn silage harvester using a shredding/crushing mechanism was designed, fabricated, and tested during twoharvesting seasons with the objective of improving the feed value of corn silage. Two pairs of toothed rolls turning at differentspeeds shredded whole-plant corn. Corn stalks were shredded, kernels were broken, and cobs were crushed. Average specificenergy required to shred whole-plant corn ranged from 2.5 to 5.9 kWh/Mg DM. Average specific energy for an added flailcutter/blower ranged from 2.0 to 4.7 kWh/Mg DM for a total harvester specific energy requirement of 4.5 to 10.6 kWh/MgDM. Average specific energy requirements for shredding varied significantly among different roll speed treatments at a unitroll force of 15 N/mm (front and rear), but no significant effect of roll speed configuration was found at other unit roll forces.Packed density was lower for shredded silage than for chopped silage, but shredded and chopped samples both ensiled wellwith pH values of 3.8 to 4.1 after fermentation. Particle size distributions of shredded and flail-cut samples were similar atmoisture levels of 60% and 65% w.b.; however, the 70% moisture crop was coarser. Shredding produced fewer small particles(<9 mm) and more large particles (>9 mm) than chopping, while shredded and flail-cut samples had more small particlesand more large particles than chopped samples.

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