The process of plants ensilage is a common practice in Brazil which provides the housing of animal feeds with high level of energy through plants to use in periods of shortage. To obtain silage with good quality it is needed a uniformity during the harvesting of plants by forage harvesters. Therefore, this research aimed to evaluate the uniformity of pricked corn and sorghum harvested by forage harvester, by assessing the methodology proposed to determine the sizes of the plant particles and to define the best adjustment for using the harvester. It was evaluated two adjustments for size cutting, 4 and 22 mm, on corn and sorghum harvesting. The adjustment of 4 mm showed a larger uniformity of pricked than the adjustment of 22 mm, medium values of 63.2% and 44.6%, respectively, in the recommended range. Thereby, the adjustment to 4 mm should be used to corn and sorghum ensilage with the evaluated harvester. The method used for determining the pricked uniformity allowed the evaluation with fastness, efficiency and simplicity.
agricultural machinery; silage; evaluation; forage harvester
