Physical and mechanical properties of soybean crops

Physical and mechanical properties of soybeam plants as well as their correlations were determined for use in the development of nonconventional harvesting-threshing devices. The forces required to detach pods from stems were positively correlated with pod location along ascendent nodes for the IAC-15 cultivar data. Plant uprooting force, root length, and stem thickness were determined for IAC-15 and Davis cultivars. Stem thickness and pod detachment force, root length and plant uprooting force, stem thickness and plant uprooting force, and root length and stem thickness were significantly correlated for the IAC-15 cultivar. Material other than grain (MOG) and seed weights, and MOG and seed volumes for the Davis cultivar also had significant correlations. MOG corresponded to 60% of the total volume of plant material which is uselessly processed during conventional combine harvesting. The forces required to uproot plants or to detach pods from stems were considerably higher than the forces required to shatter soybean pods.