Testing of Roller-Crimper-and-Undercutting-Blade-Equipped Prototype for Plants Termination
The use of roller crimpers to terminate plants and obtain a natural mulch before cash crop establishment has been identified as a valid and sustainable approach to control weeds. Several enhancements have been evaluated to improve and speed up plant termination to avoid delays in cash crop planting...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-01-01
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| Series: | AgriEngineering |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2624-7402/5/1/13 |
| _version_ | 1797614106086211584 |
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| author | Mino Sportelli Christian Frasconi Lorenzo Gagliardi Marco Fontanelli Michele Raffaelli Massimo Sbrana Daniele Antichi Andrea Peruzzi |
| author_facet | Mino Sportelli Christian Frasconi Lorenzo Gagliardi Marco Fontanelli Michele Raffaelli Massimo Sbrana Daniele Antichi Andrea Peruzzi |
| author_sort | Mino Sportelli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The use of roller crimpers to terminate plants and obtain a natural mulch before cash crop establishment has been identified as a valid and sustainable approach to control weeds. Several enhancements have been evaluated to improve and speed up plant termination to avoid delays in cash crop planting and consequent yield losses, which can occur with standard roller crimpers. In the present study, a new prototype machine provided with a roller crimper and an undercutting blade, allowing it to simultaneously crimp plant stems and cut root systems, has been designed, realized, and tested. The aim of the research was therefore to evaluate the effectiveness of the prototype for plant termination and to compare it with a commercial roller crimper. The termination was performed on a spontaneous vegetation cover (weeds). A monophasic exponential decay model to evaluate the weed termination rate over time was performed. The fitted model showed that the prototype is able to achieve a greater and faster weed devitalization compared to the commercial roller crimper, with a lower plateau (0.23 vs. 5.35 % of greenness of plant material, respectively) and higher constant of decay (1.45 vs. 0.39 day<sup>−1</sup>, respectively). Further studies are needed to evaluate the prototype’s effectiveness in relation to different soil textures, moisture conditions, and amounts of plant biomass to manage, to further improve the machine and extend its use in a broad range of situations, including cover crop termination. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:04:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ed18de4241fa4019a28243ea57053795 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2624-7402 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:04:31Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | AgriEngineering |
| spelling | doaj.art-ed18de4241fa4019a28243ea570537952023-11-17T09:03:03ZengMDPI AGAgriEngineering2624-74022023-01-015118219210.3390/agriengineering5010013Testing of Roller-Crimper-and-Undercutting-Blade-Equipped Prototype for Plants TerminationMino Sportelli0Christian Frasconi1Lorenzo Gagliardi2Marco Fontanelli3Michele Raffaelli4Massimo Sbrana5Daniele Antichi6Andrea Peruzzi7Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, ItalyThe use of roller crimpers to terminate plants and obtain a natural mulch before cash crop establishment has been identified as a valid and sustainable approach to control weeds. Several enhancements have been evaluated to improve and speed up plant termination to avoid delays in cash crop planting and consequent yield losses, which can occur with standard roller crimpers. In the present study, a new prototype machine provided with a roller crimper and an undercutting blade, allowing it to simultaneously crimp plant stems and cut root systems, has been designed, realized, and tested. The aim of the research was therefore to evaluate the effectiveness of the prototype for plant termination and to compare it with a commercial roller crimper. The termination was performed on a spontaneous vegetation cover (weeds). A monophasic exponential decay model to evaluate the weed termination rate over time was performed. The fitted model showed that the prototype is able to achieve a greater and faster weed devitalization compared to the commercial roller crimper, with a lower plateau (0.23 vs. 5.35 % of greenness of plant material, respectively) and higher constant of decay (1.45 vs. 0.39 day<sup>−1</sup>, respectively). Further studies are needed to evaluate the prototype’s effectiveness in relation to different soil textures, moisture conditions, and amounts of plant biomass to manage, to further improve the machine and extend its use in a broad range of situations, including cover crop termination.https://www.mdpi.com/2624-7402/5/1/13mechanical terminationminimum soil tillagenon-chemical methodscover cropsdead mulchsustainable agriculture |
| spellingShingle | Mino Sportelli Christian Frasconi Lorenzo Gagliardi Marco Fontanelli Michele Raffaelli Massimo Sbrana Daniele Antichi Andrea Peruzzi Testing of Roller-Crimper-and-Undercutting-Blade-Equipped Prototype for Plants Termination AgriEngineering mechanical termination minimum soil tillage non-chemical methods cover crops dead mulch sustainable agriculture |
| title | Testing of Roller-Crimper-and-Undercutting-Blade-Equipped Prototype for Plants Termination |
| title_full | Testing of Roller-Crimper-and-Undercutting-Blade-Equipped Prototype for Plants Termination |
| title_fullStr | Testing of Roller-Crimper-and-Undercutting-Blade-Equipped Prototype for Plants Termination |
| title_full_unstemmed | Testing of Roller-Crimper-and-Undercutting-Blade-Equipped Prototype for Plants Termination |
| title_short | Testing of Roller-Crimper-and-Undercutting-Blade-Equipped Prototype for Plants Termination |
| title_sort | testing of roller crimper and undercutting blade equipped prototype for plants termination |
| topic | mechanical termination minimum soil tillage non-chemical methods cover crops dead mulch sustainable agriculture |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2624-7402/5/1/13 |
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