To meet the increasing demands for ultra-shallow soil tillage, Amazone has developed the TopCut 12000-2T cutting roller combination in a working width of 12 m. It consists of up to 3 consecutive tool segments, plus a rear segment that can be equipped with various different tools to suit the customer’s needs and requirements.
For the intensive shredding of long plant residues, such as rapeseed stalks, sunflower stalks or catch crops, the use of a double-knife roller as the main tool is ideal. The knife rollers intensively shred and bruise the plant residues, significantly accelerating the decomposition process. In addition, despite the shallow cultivation of 0-2 cm, the knife rollers produce enough fine soil for optimum seedbed generation and so encourage weed seeds and volunteer cereals to germinate. The double-knife roller can also be used for seedbed preparation and generating a stale seedbed. The high circumferential speed produces a very good crumbling effect.
For an even more intensive action, a combination of knife roller and Minimum TillDisc wavey discs can be used as the main tool. This arrangement offers the advantage that the knife roller cuts crosswise and the Minimum TillDisc cuts lengthwise to the direction of travel. This enables cross-cutting, resulting in an intensive shredding action, especially useful in lodged cereals and maize stubble.
A third option is to equip the main tool segment with a double Minimum TillDisc. This combination makes it possible to cut into the ground to a depth of up to 3 cm without moving any soil. Especially in the spring, this has the advantage of opening up the soil, thus promoting improved aeration and quicker soil warming. This is particularly interesting for direct seeding of spring crops such as cereals or beet. The Minimum TillDisc disc element intensively cuts any lodged cereal residues without moving the soil to any great extent. As an option, the knife roller can be selected as an additional leading tool. This intensifies the shredding of plant residues.
Harrowing or reconsolidation
As another option, and to further improve straw distribution after the combine, the heavy three-row harrow can be used behind the main tools. In addition to distributing the straw, on the one hand, it shakes the seeds out of the straw, seed pods or ears, plus, on the other hand, the harrow produces additional fine soil. This again favours the emergence of weeds. The aggressiveness of the harrow can be altered hydraulically from the cab whilst on the move. As an option, the straw harrow is available as a HD version with carbide tips, thus extending the service life many times over.
As an alternative, packer rollers are available to reduce the drying out of the soil by optimizing the reconsolidation. The DW disc roller, with its diameter of 600 mm, is characterized both by its good reconsolidation action and its particularly good cutting effect. Plant residues, such as maize stubble or catch crops, are split more thoroughly and cut up by the sharp rings on the roller. This also promotes faster decomposition. The wedge ring roller, with a KWM 600 matrix tyre profile, produces a good crumbling effect for use in a classic seedbed preparation situation. It is also suitable for creating a stale seedbed. This causes problem weeds, such as black grass and loose silky bent, to germinate before the actual sowing date meaning that they can be controlled mechanically with the TopCut in a second pass.
