IMPACTS OF SOIL MECHANICAL RESISTANCE TO PENETRATION ON LOSSES FROM MECHANIZED PEANUT PULLING

• Grant number: 25/14538-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2025
• End date: October 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agricultural Engineering - Agricultural Machinery and Implements
• Principal Investigator: Rouverson Pereira da Silva
• Grantee: Rafael Javarotti Hass
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In Jaboticabal, SP, peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) cultivation is economically relevant, contributing to the revitalization of sugarcane fields and financial return. This project focuses on optimizing the mechanization of peanut harvesting, by reducing losses during the mechanized harvest of the IAC OL 3 cultivar. Thus, the objective of this project is to verify the variability and the possible relationship between soil mechanical resistance to penetration (SMRP), pod detachment force, and invisible losses during mechanized peanut digging. In the experiment, which will be conducted in the 2025/2026 season, SMRP will be evaluated at a depth of 0-30 cm, aiming to verify how it relates to other variables that cause harvest losses, such as soil and pod water content, maturity, yield, and especially pod detachment force, in order to correlate with harvest losses. During the digging process, tractor-digger-inverter sets and a pull-type combine will be used, and losses during digging and after combining will be evaluated. The experiment will use SPC with 80 sampling points to monitor peanut digging, evaluating variability through control charts. Special causes will be investigated using the 6 M's Factors and the analysis of possible correlations will be performed using Pearson's correlation and spatial variability by geostatistics, aiming to reduce losses, increase sustainability, and productivity.