Work quality of sugar beet harvesters at different forward speeds

Nowadays the trend in sugar beet harvesting is towards the use of machines with a high work rate, able to harvest large areas. Different harvesting techniques have been developed: sugar beet multi-stage harvesters and self-propelled harvesters. In any case today sugar beet harvesters are designed lengthening the passage of roots inside the machine and fitting more efficient cleaning mechanisms. Field tests were carried out to assess the performance of sugar beet harvesters (three-row self-propelled harvester, six-row self-propelled harvester and six-row 2-stage system harvester), tested at different forward speeds. An international standard, developed by the Institute International de Researches Betteravieres (IIRB), was used. The main parameters characterising the harvesting quality were taproot breaks, bruises on root sides, topping quality and dirty tares. The six-row self-propelled harvester, compared to the other tested equipment, gave the best work quality in both years of the tests. It was also clear that a proper choice of forward speed could improve harvesting quality. In fact the six-row self-propelled harvester at the slowest forward speed (4 km/h) tested did not produce the best result. On the contrary the three-row self-propelled harvester and the six-row 2-stage system harvester gave the best performance at the slowest forward speed (4 km/h).