Assessment of the Working Performance of an Innovative Prototype to Harvest Hemp Seed in Two Different Conditions of Terrain Slope

After many decades when its cultivation was prohibited, hemp is regaining its position as one of the most versatile cultivated crops. Multiplication of monoecious hemp varieties requires manual male plants rouging to keep a high share of monoecious plants in the population. It forces relatively small multiplication fields usually oscillating around 5 ha, where the use of big harvesting machines is not economically feasible. The B-800 mower prototype for hemp panicles proved to be a good alternative to harvest seeds of tall fibrous hemp. The test results of the mower analyzed in this study show that although seed loss on a moderate slope (0.37%) was significantly higher than on a flat slope (0.13%), it was still much lower than in the case of harvesting hemp seed with a combined harvester. Moreover, the field efficiency of 93% is very satisfactory as it is reported for much bigger machines. Finally, the harvesting costs proved to be much lower than most of the machines used for harvesting hemp seed.

Automated summary

After many years of prohibition, hemp is making a comeback as one of the most versatile crops. To ensure a high percentage of monoecious plants, manual removal of male plants is necessary, making the use of large harvesting machines economically unfeasible. However, the B-800 mower prototype for hemp panicles has proven to be a good alternative for seed harvesting. Test results show that the seed loss is lower compared to using combined harvesters and the field efficiency is satisfactory.