TECHNIQUE OF CARRYING OUT FIELD STUDIES OF A CONTROLLED ATTACHMENT ON SUGAR BEET CROPS
The article notes a tendency to increase the acreage of sugar beet. Correlation data of indicators of gross harvests, sown areas and sugar beet yield in the Russian Federation are given. The volume of production could be increased due to the intensification of agricultural production. At the same time, it is necessary to minimize damage and loss of sugar beet root crops in the harvested heap, there should not be more than 20 % of them, including severely damaged ones, no more than 5 %. The presence of an extensive root system complicates the harvesting process and makes it the most energy-intensive technological operation. To reduce damage to root crops and their efforts to extract from the soil during harvesting, we used a unit as part of an MTZ-1523 tractor with navigation equipment and controlled attachment withUSMK-5.4V hiller cultivator. Carrying out field tests established the optimal operating modes for the controlled attachment: the machine-tractor forward speed V<sub>mta</sub> = 1.4 m/s, transverse speed of the tool V<sub>p</sub> = 0.1 m/s. The evenness of sugar beet root crops increased up to 20 %, in the longitudinal position relative to the line of their planting and along the height of the heads relative to the field surface, which subsequently made it possible to reduce the damage of root crops during harvesting by 10...12 %. It has been determined that a decrease in effort makes it possible to increase the productivity of root-harvesting machines by 12.15 %.