Is there a right way?
Post-harvest stubble management can take many forms depending on what tops your priority list. Is it minimum fuel use, getting over the ground as quickly as possible, the time it takes for stubble and trash to break down or maybe moisture conservation? If you include soil and weather conditions, you could write several books on the subject. However, for this particular profi article our attention is solely on one matter; which tool design is best for getting as many volunteers to germinate as possible?
To answer that key question, we compared nine different machines that represent six approaches on a wheat stubble that had just been cleared. Further details on the conditions can be found in the box “How we tested” overleaf, where you can also discover some details on our experience in oilseed rape.
Designs compared
In order to highlight the individual benefits of the different designs, we have compared the following:
• Winged-tine cultivators were represented by German maker Kerner and its three-row Corona 300 model together with a separate X-Cut-300 knife roller for use in oilseed rape stubble.• Köckerling with its Allrounder 600 was an example of a shallow topsoil tine cultivator that has tine metal hitting the full workingwidth. Our test machine had the optional knife roller in front of the tines, which proved to be more effective in rape stubble than in cereal stubble.• Müthing supplied two types of flail mulcher. The MUM280 Vario Shark is a classic frontmounted flail, while the Agriline series field mulcher was operated as a rear-mounted machine with a row of tines running ahead of the rotor and a Güttler roller on• There were two straw harrows on test. The Agrisem Turbo-Mulch R had the optional two rows of wavy discs in front of the tines. The other machine from this sector was a 6.0m Wallner StrawMaster harrow with the optional knife roller running ahead of thetine section. It also had special tools bolted to some of the harrow tines.• Väderstad supplied a 4.1m Carrier 425XL compact disc. This machine came with the knife roller and CrossCutter discs options, the latter working a 12cm wide strip. In the test, we operated this compact unit with wavy discs.• The line-up was completed by two other designs: a 9.30m wide Kelly chain disc harrow, which was primarily worked in rapeseed, and the mounted Agrisem Disco-Mulch RR short disc harrow with serrated discs.• For more information on the individual machines, see the following pages. The ground speeds and the theoretical area outputs are also listed there — each less 20% for headland turns. We didn’t measure the fuel consumption because we ran three tractors: a John Deere 6215R, Fendt 516 Vario and bigger 936 Vario. Manufacturer recommendations as to tractor power can be found in the technical table
