Agricultural technology trials and tests in the field

The informative value of field tests - procedural comparisons, e.g. with regard to tillage, sowing technology or combine tests - can be significantly increased on standardised areas prepared by the Crop Production Center (IPZ). These tests supplement the results of Europe's leading DLG Test Center for Technology and Farm Inputs.

Combine harvesters were tested for their straw distribution and threshing losses, and tillage implements such as cultivators and disc harrows were tested for their straw incorporation. This enables the real values to be determined by means of tractive force and fuel consumption measurements.

The placement accuracy of plot seed drills was tested in 2012. Good longitudinal and lateral distribution of the seed in the plot is an essential prerequisite for precise trials. In order to examine the current state of the art and to recognise any differences between different systems, the DLG Committee for Testing in Crop Production designed a comparison of plot seed drills, to which it invited several manufacturers. On 26 September 2012, their machines sowed large, medium and small-grain seed in various sowing rates on a total of 256 plots. After the plants had emerged, the longitudinal and lateral distribution was measured as it appeared in the field. For this purpose, the locations of each individual plant in each row were measured as a distance in cm from the start of the plot (scope: over 85,000 data records).

In comparative tests of agricultural tractor tyres, results on traction/slip behaviour and differences in the resulting fuel consumption at constant working speed were also determined. These measurements are always carried out as part of simulated real loads on the tractors in the field and are summarised in test reports that can be viewed on the DLG homepage.

A pilot trial was carried out in 2014 at the IPZ in Bernburg-Strenzfeld to evaluate the influence of different share shapes on the effectiveness of soil tillage. The DLG test engineers were able to use modern testing and measurement technology to measure or determine the relevant parameters such as tensile force requirement, reconsolidation, crumb structure and straw mixing. The DLG Committee for Technology in Crop Production and the team at the DLG's International Crop Production Center (IPZ) in Bernburg carried out initial measurements on the tractive force requirements of various share shapes.