Cover Crop Rollers: A New Component of Conservation Tillage Systems

摘要

Rollers may provide a valuable alternative to chemicals for terminating a cover crop. Several producers are now using versions that they have made or have purchased. Most of these producers, however, complain about excessive vibration that is caused by the roller passing over the cover crop. To avoid this excessive vibration, they must limit their operational speed. Experiments were performed to determine if two alternative designs for the blades of the rollers would decrease vibration while maintaining the ability to kill a cover crop. Results showed that a curved blade system or a short-staggered straight blade system significantly reduced vibration as compared to the standard long-straight blade system typically found on rollers. These two alternative blade systems were also found to kill the cover crop as effectively as the long-straight blade system.