Abstract
Agricultural mechanization is crucial to accelerating farming operations and increasing the area under cultivation of
various crops since technology reduces costs, shortens working hours, and provides control over numerous factors
that affect production. Granular mineral fertilizers are frequently distributed using centrifugal disc spreaders because
of their excellent distribution efficiency, ease of construction, and ease of usage. Having precise fertilizer placement
results in lower costs and more productive output. Despite differences in soil properties and spatial diversity within
the field or among plants, Variable Rate Technology (VRT) is used to guarantee that every plant receives an equal
amount of nutrients.. Fertilizer application performance is considered to depend approximately one-third on the
fertilizer, one-third on the spreader, and one-third on the operator’s characteristics. As a research objective, the
centrifugal fertilizer spreader was adapted to operate using electric power supplied by the tractor instead of the PTO,
in order to reduce the load on the tractor engine. The spreader’s operation is managed by an electronic circuit that
allows adjustment of the application rate and the rotational speed of the spreading disc, thus controlling the spreading
width behind the tractor. A factorial experiment of the RCBD type was conducted to evaluate the fertilizer granule
breakage rate under the influence of two factors: disc angular speed and blade angle. In the conventional method, the
average breakage rate was 9.6%, while the highest value recorded under the VRT system was 6.9%. A noticeably
higher breakage rate was observed at the -25° angle with increasing speed. More stable breakage rates were recorded
at 0° and 25° angles when using disc rotational speeds of 500 or 550 rpm. The effect of these factors, in addition to
the tractor's forward speed, had a minimal impact on the electric power consumption per hectare.
various crops since technology reduces costs, shortens working hours, and provides control over numerous factors
that affect production. Granular mineral fertilizers are frequently distributed using centrifugal disc spreaders because
of their excellent distribution efficiency, ease of construction, and ease of usage. Having precise fertilizer placement
results in lower costs and more productive output. Despite differences in soil properties and spatial diversity within
the field or among plants, Variable Rate Technology (VRT) is used to guarantee that every plant receives an equal
amount of nutrients.. Fertilizer application performance is considered to depend approximately one-third on the
fertilizer, one-third on the spreader, and one-third on the operator’s characteristics. As a research objective, the
centrifugal fertilizer spreader was adapted to operate using electric power supplied by the tractor instead of the PTO,
in order to reduce the load on the tractor engine. The spreader’s operation is managed by an electronic circuit that
allows adjustment of the application rate and the rotational speed of the spreading disc, thus controlling the spreading
width behind the tractor. A factorial experiment of the RCBD type was conducted to evaluate the fertilizer granule
breakage rate under the influence of two factors: disc angular speed and blade angle. In the conventional method, the
average breakage rate was 9.6%, while the highest value recorded under the VRT system was 6.9%. A noticeably
higher breakage rate was observed at the -25° angle with increasing speed. More stable breakage rates were recorded
at 0° and 25° angles when using disc rotational speeds of 500 or 550 rpm. The effect of these factors, in addition to
the tractor's forward speed, had a minimal impact on the electric power consumption per hectare.
Keywords
Breakage Rate
Centrifugal Disc Spreaders
power consumption
VRT