JPH1161834A - Rice straw mulching material and manufacture thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide easy execution utilizing a mulching function similar to conventional rice straw, free planting layout and a material suitable for growth of planted plants. SOLUTION: As for a rice straw mulching material 1, a large number of rice straws 21 are aligned in the lateral direction so that a predetermined thickness is obtained in the laterally oriented state to form a rectangular straw bed 2, and this straw bed 2 is sewn in plural rows in the lateral direction. Thus, the width is set almost equal to the length of the straw bed, and both ends of in the width direction of the straw bed 2 are blended almost uniformly at a tip end part and a root part of the rice straw 21, and a METSUKE amount is set at 2 to 5 kg/m<2> .

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rice straw mulching material that protects soil by laying on a surface and plays a role as a compost.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a newly constructed land formed by stacking or shaving soil, not only is the soil exposed on the slopes and the landscape is not favorable, but also the ground is soft. In many cases, concrete has been applied after the slope has been compacted, but in recent years, plants have been planted instead of concrete from the viewpoint of protecting the natural environment. If plants are planted on the slopes, the roots will extend vertically and horizontally in the soil, thereby strengthening the ground, and a landscape suitable for the natural environment can be obtained, and the effect of two birds with one stone can be obtained.

[0003] Usually, when planting plants on the slope,
A mulching material is laid on the slope in advance, which prevents landslides and the scattering of soil and is used as compost for plants to be planted. Conventionally, as a mulching material, a straw bundle formed by bundling rice straw was generally used,
It is very troublesome to lay straw bundles one by one on a wide slope, it takes a lot of manpower and time, and it is difficult to lay them in uniform thickness. In many cases, vegetation mats that have been subjected to felt processing are used. If this vegetation mat is used, it is easy to lay, and it is possible to eliminate uneven thickness of the mulching material laid.

[0004]

The above-mentioned vegetation mats are more expensive than rice straws, and thus have the problem of increasing the material cost of laying mulching materials. When trying to plant seedlings, they can be planted only in the gaps between the edges of the vegetation mats adjacent to each other, and there is a problem that the planting layout is restricted. In addition, the vegetation mat has a larger weight per unit area (weight per unit area) than the straw bundle, and the airflow is inferior to that of the straw bundle. It also has the problem of being unsuitable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is easy to construct while utilizing the same mulching function as the conventional straw bundle, and the planting layout is free. Another object of the present invention is to provide a rice straw mulching material suitable for growing planted plants.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a rice straw mulching material manufacturing apparatus capable of easily manufacturing such a rice straw mulching material.

[0007]

The rice straw mulching material according to the first aspect of the present invention aligns a large number of rice straws in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the rice straw so as to be parallel to each other. A straw floor having a predetermined thickness is formed, and the straw floor is sewn at a plurality of locations in the longitudinal direction of the rice straw over the entire length in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the rice straw, The straw floor is characterized in that the tip portions of two sets of rice straws with aligned tip portions are opposed to each other, and each tip portion is sunk into another assembly. Rice straw mulching material.

[0008] According to this rice straw mulching material, the mulching material is sewn in a state where the rice straw has a predetermined thickness and is aligned so as to extend in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the rice straw. Since it is formed, it is packed in a cylindrical shape by winding it up in the lateral direction. Then, the mulching material is placed on the slope by disposing the packed mulching material on the created slope and rolling back the mulching material while rolling on the slope. Therefore, the laying operation is easier and the operation cost is reduced as compared with the case where the straw bundles are laid one by one on the slope as in the related art. In addition, the disadvantage that the thickness of the straw bundle in the laid state, which occurred in the case of the straw bundle, becomes non-uniform, does not occur, and the thickness is always uniform. The variation of the mulching effect caused by the above is eliminated, the entire slope is uniformly mulched, and the entire slope can be made an environment suitable for plant planting.

[0009] At both ends of the straw bed in the width direction, the tip of the rice straw having a small diameter and the root of the rice straw having a large diameter are almost uniformly mixed. The size of the mulching material is offset by the mutual offset of the sizes of the straw floors, the thickness of the straw floor becomes uniform, and the lateral lengths on both sides in the width direction become the same. The laying work on the slope is facilitated, and the rice straw is laid evenly on the slope to obtain a uniform mulching effect.

Further, the width of the mulching material is arbitrarily set up to less than twice the length of the rice straw by adjusting the amount of the tip of one of the aggregates sunk into the other of the aggregates. It becomes possible to do.

The rice straw mulching material according to the second aspect of the present invention is the rice straw mulching material according to the first aspect, wherein the straw floor is set to have a basis weight of 2 to 5 kg / m ^2. It is assumed that.

According to this mulching material, the set basis weight of 2 to 5 kg / m ² is equivalent to a state in which the straw bundle is slightly pressed and tied, so that the mulching material is different from that of the conventional straw bundle. While having a similar air circulation, it is possible to expose the soil by inserting and pushing through the hands, so that it is possible to plant seedlings of plants in any part of the mulching material, The planting layout can be set arbitrarily.

[0013] The basis weight of the mulching material is 2 kg / m
^When the thickness is less than ² , the mulching material has a small apparent density, that is, a so-called fluffy state, in order to secure a predetermined thickness dimension, so that the mulching material is likely to be separated by sewing, resulting in inconvenience of poor workability.

Conversely, if the basis weight exceeds 5 kg / m ² , the mulching material has a high density, that is, in a so-called compressed state when a predetermined thickness is secured, so that it cannot be bent. Is disadvantageous.

The rice straw mulching material according to the third aspect of the present invention is the rice straw mulching material according to the first or second aspect, wherein the sewn thread used for the sewing is one having biodegradability. It is a feature.

According to the rice straw mulching material, the sewing thread is also biodegraded in time with the biodegradation of the rice straw forming the mulching material. The inconvenience of contamination is eliminated.

A rice straw mulching material according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the rice straw mulching material according to the third aspect, wherein the sewing thread is made of vinylon.

According to the rice straw mulching material, since the sewing thread made of vinylon is cheaper than the sewing thread made of other biodegradable synthetic resin, the material cost of the mulching material can be reduced. It is valid.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for producing a rice straw mulching material, comprising a raw material supply section, a forming section, and a sewing section. The two rice straw aggregates obtained by being aligned in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the rice straw so as to have a thickness dimension are configured to be joined together by an aggregate joining means, and the forming section is configured to It is configured to press-mold the aggregate of rice straw joined at the raw material supply unit to a predetermined thickness to make a straw floor,
The sewn portion is configured to sew the straw floor formed by the forming portion in a direction orthogonal to a direction in which the rice straw extends, thereby forming a mulching material.

According to the rice straw mulching material manufacturing apparatus, the rice straw is sequentially supplied to the raw material supply unit so as to be arranged in the horizontal direction so as to have a predetermined thickness while being oriented in the vertical direction. The rice straw aggregates are sequentially fed into the forming section, where the aggregates are subjected to a pressing process to obtain a straw floor. The straw floor is subjected to a predetermined sewing process at the next sewing section to obtain a mulching material.

Then, the aggregates of the plurality of rows are merged into one row by the aggregate merging means provided in the raw material supply section. The tip of the straw is oriented in the same direction, and the direction of the tip is different between the aggregates. The thick portion of the other rice straw comes into contact with each other, and the straw floor formed by the merged aggregate has a uniform thickness.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the rice straw mulching material manufacturing apparatus according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, wherein the uniting means comprises two rice straw aggregates. A wide portion having a width dimension longer than the length in the longitudinal direction, and the inlet side is connected to the wide portion, and is tapered so that the distance between the side walls gradually decreases toward the outlet side. And a throttle portion whose width on the outlet side is set to be shorter than the combined length of the two rice straw aggregates in the longitudinal direction.

According to this rice straw mulching material manufacturing apparatus, the rice straw is sequentially supplied so that two rows of aggregates can be obtained in the wide portion, whereby each of the two rows of aggregates is adjusted to a length-adjusting hopper. In each of the narrowed portions, each is guided to the side wall and directed toward the center portion, so that the two rows of aggregates enter each other as they move through the narrowed portion toward the outlet side. At the exit part of the section, the aggregates merge to form a single-row aggregate.

[0024]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a rice straw mulching material 1 according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, the XX direction is referred to as a horizontal direction (a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the rice straw), and the YY direction is referred to as a vertical direction (the longitudinal direction of the rice straw). As shown in this figure, the mulching material 1
A straw floor 2 formed by bundling a number of rice straws 21;
It has a basic configuration including a sewing thread 3 obtained by sewing the straw floor 2.

Each of the rice straws 21 extends in the vertical direction and is juxtaposed in the horizontal direction so as to have a predetermined thickness, thereby forming a horizontally elongated rectangular straw floor 2 in plan view. ing. Such a straw floor 2 is sewn using a predetermined sewing thread so as to be arranged in a plurality of rows in the horizontal direction, thereby forming the mulching material 1 according to the present invention.

In this embodiment, the mulching material 1
Has a vertical dimension set to about 1 m, which is equal to the length dimension of the rice straw 21, and a horizontal dimension set to about 5 m. The basis weight representing the weight per 1 m ^{2 of the} straw bed 2 is set in the range of ^{2 to} 5 kg / m ² . And the bulk density of the straw bed 2 is approximately 0.07 to 0.08 g / cm.
^The thickness is set to ³ so that the thickness dimension gradually increases as the basis weight increases. In the present embodiment, the weight of one mulching material 1 is set to 15 kg, whereby the basis weight of the mulching material 1 is 3 kg /.
It has become m ^2. The thickness of the straw bed 2 is set to approximately 4 cm in order to secure the bulk density of 0.07 to 0.08 g / cm ³ .

The bulk density of the straw floor 2 can be obtained by pressing and slightly compressing a bundle of rice straw during the sewing process. The bulk density of the straw bed 2 is 0.07 to 0.08 g / c
The reason for setting m ³ is that the mulching material 1 obtained in this way can be significantly reduced in volume so as to be suitable for transportation and storage. Then, after the mulching material 1 is laid in a predetermined place, it gradually swells, and approximately 2
Recovers twice the thickness. In addition, the bulk density is 0.07 to
By setting the mulching material 1 to 0.08 g / cm ³ , the porosity of the mulching material 1 becomes very large, and the flow of air toward the soil is improved while the mulching material 1 is laid on the soil surface. , The rice straw 21 can be easily raked away, whereby planting can be performed well.

Then, the basis weight of the straw floor 2 is 2 to 5 k.
The g / m ² is set within the range of less than 2 kg / m ^{2. In} order to ensure a predetermined thickness of the mulching material 1, the mulching material 1 has an extremely small apparent density.
Because it is in a so-called fluffy state, it tends to fall apart even by sewing, which causes inconvenience of poor workability. Conversely, if the basis weight exceeds 5 kg / m ² , if the predetermined thickness is secured, Since the mulching material has a high density, that is, in a so-called compressed state, it is difficult to bend and the like, which causes inconveniences such as difficulty in handling. To avoid these inconveniences, the weight of the straw floor 2 must be reduced. It is set to fall within the above range.

The sewing thread 3 is formed of a biodegradable material. As a material using such a material, a yarn using a natural material such as cotton yarn, wool yarn, hemp yarn, or silk yarn, or a yarn made of biodegradable synthetic resin such as vinylon is used. By doing so, the sewing thread 3 is biodegraded by the action of microorganisms in synchronization with the composting of the rice straw 21 after the mulching material 1 is laid, so that soil contamination due to the remaining sewing thread is prevented.

The mulching material 1 is formed by sewing the straw floor 2 in a plurality of rows in the horizontal direction using such sewing threads 3. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
It is sewn in six rows in the horizontal direction so as to be 80 mm. The sewing pitch of the sewing thread 3 in each row is set to 42 mm. By employing such sewing conditions, it is possible to obtain a mulching material 1 which does not fall apart and is excellent in shape retention.

The number of rows for sewing is not limited to six rows, but it is sufficient if at least two rows are provided. Also,
There is no particular upper limit for more than 6 columns, but at most 1
It is not necessary to have more than zero columns. The sewing pitch is 42
mm, not limited to rice straw 21
Should be larger than the diameter (approximately 5 mm) of
A range of 60 mm is preferred.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which a plurality of mulching materials 1 are folded and stacked, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which the folded mulching material 1 in FIG. 2 is compressed. 2 and 3, the XX direction is referred to as a horizontal direction, and the YY direction is referred to as a vertical direction. When shipping the manufactured mulching material 1, first, as shown in FIG. 2, a folded product 1 in which a plurality of mulching materials 1 are folded.
3, the folded product 11 is then compressed in the vertical direction, as shown in FIG. 3, whereby a rectangular parallelepiped compressed product 12 is formed. A plurality of cords 13 are wrapped around the compressed product 12 in a body-wound state and bound to obtain a packaged product 14.

In this embodiment, two pieces of mulching material 1 having a horizontal dimension of 5 m are folded and stacked in 12 steps in a zigzag manner around a fold line extending in the vertical direction, whereby the folded product 11 has a horizontal dimension. Is about 400 mm and the height dimension is about 1100 mm. The folded product 11 is compressed to a height of 350 mm to form a packaged product 14. The mulching material 1 has a bulk density of 0.075 g /
The clogging state has been increased from cm ³ to almost three times to 0.23 g / cm ³ , which saves space during storage and transportation, and enables efficient storage and transfer. .

FIGS. 4 and 5 are perspective views showing the usage of the mulching material 1 according to the present invention. FIG. 4 shows the laying state when the number of seedlings such as trees is small, and FIG. The laying state is shown when the number of planted seedlings such as trees is large or when the frequency of strong wind is high. 2 and 3
, The XX direction is referred to as a horizontal direction, and the YY direction is referred to as a vertical direction.

First, when the number of seedlings such as trees is small, as shown in FIG. 4, the mulching materials 1 are laid in two rows so as to extend laterally on the slope H of the created land. Thereafter, six L-shaped skewers 41 are driven into the slope H at regular intervals along the edge of the mulching material 1 extending in the longitudinal direction,
Next, the rope 4 is stretched between the L-shaped eyelets 41 facing each other. By doing so, the two mulching materials 1 laid on the slope H are held by the six ropes 4 extending in the lateral direction, and the laid state of the mulching material 1 is stabilized.

In order to further stabilize the laid state, a U-shaped skewer 42 is used, and a plurality of U-shaped skewers 42 are driven into the slope H so as to straddle the rope 4 at a pitch of approximately 1000 mm. It is. By doing so, the swinging of the rope 4 in the vertical direction is suppressed, and the pressing effect of the rope 4 on the mulching material 1 is improved. The straw floor 2 at a predetermined position of the mulching material 1 laid in this manner is scraped to expose the slope H, and seedlings such as trees are planted in this portion.

Next, when the number of seedlings such as trees is large, or when the frequency of strong winds is high irrespective of the number of trees, a predetermined pitch of 600 mm is applied to the slope H of the rim of the mulching material 1. The number of L-shaped skewers 41 is driven, and the ropes 4 are stretched between these L-shaped skewers 41 so as to cross diagonally. By doing so, the rope 4 is stretched on the upper surface of the mulching material 1 so as to form a grid.

In this state, the U-shaped skewers 42 are driven into the intersections of the ropes 4 so that the upper part of the mulching material 1 is covered with a net. This is significantly improved from that shown in FIG. Therefore, even if the number of trees and the like to be planted is large, and the number of places where the straw floor 2 is squeezed is increased, the straw floor 2 is reliably prevented from falling apart, and the disadvantage that the straw floor 2 is blown off by strong winds is also eliminated. Be avoided.

FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an embodiment of the rice straw mulching material manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 6, the XX direction is referred to as a horizontal direction or a transfer direction, the YY direction is referred to as a vertical direction or a width direction, and the ZZ direction is referred to as a vertical direction. As shown in this figure, the mulching material manufacturing apparatus 5 includes a raw material supply unit 6 for feeding rice straw 21 as a raw material to a central portion of the apparatus, and an aggregate of many rice straws 21 sent from the raw material supply unit 6. Forming a straw floor 2 by pressing and shaping the straw floor 2 so as to have a predetermined thickness and a vertical dimension, and sewing the straw floor 2 derived from the forming section 7 into a mulching material 1 8 is provided.

The raw material supply section 6 is provided with a rice straw 2 serving as a raw material.
1, a receiving conveyor 61 for feeding the material 1 toward the forming section 7, a spike member 64 provided to face a conveying surface of the receiving conveyor 61, and a spike member 64 provided between the receiving conveyor 61 and the forming section 7; , A length-adjusting hopper 67 for adjusting the length of the aggregate of the rice straw 21 in the vertical direction.

The receiving conveyor 61 is composed of a pair of rollers 62 extending in the vertical direction and a conveyor belt 63 stretched between the rollers 62. One of the pair of rollers 62 is a driving roller, and the other is a driven roller. When the driving roller is driven by an electric motor (not shown), the conveyor belt 63 circulates between the rollers 62. The aggregate of the rice straws 21 placed on the transport surface 63 is transported toward the trimming hopper 67.

In such a receiving conveyor 61, the width of the conveyor belt 63 is set to be approximately twice the length of the rice straw 21, whereby the rice straws 21 are vertically oriented one by one, and , Can be placed on the conveyor belt 63 in two rows so as to extend in the horizontal direction.

The spike member 64 includes a support plate 65 provided so as to cross the conveyor belt 63 at a predetermined distance from the conveyor belt 63, and the conveyor belt 63 of the support plate 65.
And a plurality of spikes 66 protruding from a surface facing the fin. The spike member 64 is configured to swing back and forth with respect to the moving direction of the rice straw 21 by driving of a driving unit (not shown). Then, the aggregate of the rice straw 21 in two rows due to this swing is spike 6
6 so that the alignment of the aggregate of the rice straws 21 is adjusted.

The length-adjusting hopper 67 has a wide portion 68 whose vertical dimension is set to be slightly more than twice the length of the rice straw 21, and a constriction constriction provided continuously downstream of the wide portion 68. Part 69
Are formed. The wide portion 68 is disposed at the downstream end of the conveyor belt 63 such that its upstream opening faces the aggregate of the rice straws 21 on the conveyor belt 63,
The aggregate of the rice straws 21 sent by the conveyor belt 63 is pushed into the wide portion 68 in two rows.

The narrowed portion 69 is tapered so that the dimension between the side walls gradually decreases toward the downstream side. The width of the narrowed portion 69 on the outlet side is set to be substantially the same as or slightly longer than the length of the rice straw 21. Thereby, the trimming hopper 67
The aggregate of the two rows of rice straw 21 introduced into the
9, by moving toward the downstream side, it is guided by both side walls and moves in the width direction so as to approach each other,
As a result, the left and right aggregates are fitted into each other in the gaps between the rice straws 21 to form a single row, and are led out toward the molding portion 7.

The length adjusting hopper 67 has a vibrator (not shown), and is finely vibrated in the width direction by driving the vibrator. By the vibration, the aggregate of the rice straws 21 in two rows is smoothly combined.

The molding portion 7 includes a drive shaft 7 extending in the vertical direction.
A spike roller 71 that co-rotates integrally around two ends, a cover 73 that covers the surface of the spike roller 71, and a vertical direction that is provided at a downstream end of the cover 73 and that faces each other with a predetermined separation dimension. , And an intermediate conveyor 75 disposed below the pair of forming rollers 74.

The drive shaft 72 is adapted to rotate clockwise around the axis by driving an electric motor (not shown). Further, the spike roller 71 is arranged and set so that the upper outer peripheral surface thereof faces the downstream end of the length-adjusting hopper 67, and the aggregate of the rice straw 21 derived from the length-adjusting hopper 67 is located above the spike roller 71. It is supplied on the outer peripheral surface. On the outer peripheral surface of such a spike roller 71, an infinite number of needle-like spikes 71a are protruded over the entire circumference. Therefore, by rotating the spike roller 71 clockwise around the drive shaft 72, the aggregated rice straw 21 supplied to the outer peripheral surface of the spike roller 71 from the trimming hopper 67 is hooked on the needle-like spike 71a. In this state, it moves downward in the gap with the cover 73 and is supplied between the pair of forming rollers 74.

The pair of forming rollers 74 are rotated in opposite directions by the driving of an electric motor (not shown), thereby compressing the aggregate of the rice straw 21 supplied between the forming rollers 74 to the straw floor 2. Is what you do. The pair of forming rollers 74 are driven synchronously with the spike roller 71 so that the supply amount of the aggregate to the forming roller 74 and the discharge amount of the straw floor 2 are the same. Rice straw 2
As a result of the assembly 1 passing between the forming rollers 74, the thickness d is reduced from the thickness d in the length-adjusting hopper 67 to the straw floor 2 having a smaller thickness d1 (d1 ≒ d / 2). .

The intermediate conveyor 75 comprises a pair of rollers 76 in the horizontal direction and a conveyor belt 77 stretched between the rollers 76. This conveyor belt 77
Are installed such that their substantially central portions are located below the pair of forming rollers 74, thereby forming the forming rollers 74.
Is supplied to the central portion of the conveyor belt 77. Such a conveyor belt 77
The roller orbits around the rollers 76 by the drive of a drive unit (not shown) synchronously driven with the forming rollers 74, and sends out the straw floor 2 discharged from the forming rollers 74 toward the sewing section 8.

The sewing portion 8 is provided with a base plate 81 extending in the width direction provided in the vicinity of the downstream end of the intermediate conveyor 75, and a pressing plate 8 disposed on the upper part of the base plate 81 so as to be spaced apart and opposed to each other.
2, a sewing mechanism 83 for performing sewing processing on the straw floor 2 passing between the base plate 81 and the holding plate 82, a payout conveyor 87 disposed downstream of the base plate 81, and an upper portion of the payout conveyor 87. And a payout roller 88 disposed so as to extend in the width direction. The base plate 81 and the holding plate 82 have a plurality of needle through holes 812 which are vertically opposed to each other and are formed in a state of being serially arranged in the width direction. In the present embodiment, six needle passing holes 812 are provided.

The sewing mechanism 83 includes a needle support arm 84 which is provided to be able to move up and down in opposition to the holding plate 82.
The needle passage hole 812 provided in parallel with the needle support arm 84
And a plurality of bobbin cases 86 provided below the base plate 81 in correspondence with the needle passage holes 812. Each of the sewing needles 85 is loosely fitted into a corresponding one of the needle through holes 812 of the pressing plate 82, and the needle support arm 84 is moved up and down to move the needle through holes 8 of the base plate 81.
12 and the bobbin case 86.

Then, the sewing needle 85 is inserted into the bobbin case 86 and pulled out in one stroke.
6 also makes one rotation around the vertical axis, and the sewing thread 3 from the bobbin 86a
The straw floor 2 moving downstream between the base plate 81 and the presser plate 82 is sequentially sewn by repeating this operation, and the mulching material 1 is sewn.
And the mulching material 1 is sent out to the payout conveyor 87.

The dispensing roller 88 has a dispensing conveyor 87.
The mulching material 1 is rotated while being pressed, whereby the straw floor 2 is sewn and the mulching material 1 is rotated.
Is guaranteed to be paid out. And
The pressing force of the dispensing roller 88 is set so that the thickness d2 of the mulching material 1 on the downstream side of the dispensing roller 88 is substantially の of the thickness d1 of the straw floor 2 on the downstream side of the forming roller 74. I have.

Since the mulching material manufacturing apparatus 5 of the present invention is configured as described above, the rice straws 21 are sequentially placed vertically in two rows on the conveyor belt 63 of the raw material supply section 6. As a result, the aggregate of the two rows of rice straw 21 is sequentially sent to the downstream side by the driving of the receiving conveyor 61, and
Spike 6 caused by swinging of spike member 64 back and forth.
6 is introduced into the length-adjusting hopper 67 while the alignment direction is adjusted by the raking operation.

Next, the aggregates of the two rows of the rice straws 21 introduced into the length adjusting hopper 67 are joined together at the narrowing portion 69 and are formed in a state where the width dimension is substantially equal to the length dimension of the rice straws 21. It is supplied on the outer peripheral surface of the spike roller 71 of the section 7. The driving shaft 72 of the spike roller 71
By the clockwise rotation, the aggregate of the rice straw 21 moves downward between the cover 73 and the spike roller 71 while being hooked on the needle-like spike 71a, and
The straw floor 2 is compressed to a thickness d1 between the four floors. The straw floor 2 thus formed is transferred toward the sewing section 8 by the conveyor belt 77 of the intermediate conveyor 75.

The straw floor 2 sent out by the intermediate conveyor 75 is passed between the base plate 81 and the holding plate 82 at the sewing section 8, and is sewn sequentially by the sewing mechanism 83 to become the mulching material 1. The mulching material 1 includes a payout conveyor 87 and a payout roller 88 that are driven to pay out.
As a result, the thickness d2 is reduced to approximately の of the thickness d1 of the straw floor 2 and is sequentially discharged out of the system.

In the present invention, the raw material supply unit 6
The rice straws 21 supplied in two rows on the conveyor belt 63 are merged in the length adjusting hopper 67 and
The conveyor belt 6
When the rice straw 21 is supplied onto the conveyor belt 63 when the rice straw 21 is supplied onto the conveyor belt 63 such that the spikes of the rice straw 21 in each row face each other, The sharp ends of the rice straw 21 in the two rows of aggregates facing each other enter the gaps of the other party's aggregate, so that the two rows of aggregates can be easily merged. Can be.

In the state where the two rows of aggregates have been merged and the straw bed 2 is formed, the tip of one rice straw 21 and the root of the other rice straw 21 overlap each other. Therefore, the thickness of the obtained straw floor 2 in the width method becomes uniform, and as a result, the mulching material 1 having a uniform thickness can be obtained.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but includes the following contents.

(1) In the above embodiment, the mulching material 1 is set to have a vertical dimension of 1 m, a horizontal dimension of 5 m and a thickness dimension of 4 cm. The vertical dimension is not limited to 50 cm to 1 m, and the horizontal dimension is set to 1 m or more and less than 5 m.
For example, the size of the mulching material 1 may be set to a size exceeding m, or may be arbitrarily set according to the demand of the land where the mulching material 1 is to be laid.

(2) In the above embodiment, the basis weight of the rice straw 21 of the mulching material 1 is set to ² to 5 kg / cm ² , but within this range, 3 to 4 kg / c.
More preferably, it is m ² . By reducing the range of the basis weight in this manner, the variation in quality of the obtained mulching material 1 is reduced, and a product with uniform quality can be obtained.

(3) In the above embodiment, the length-adjusting hopper 67 is applied as the assembly merging means.
The present invention is not limited to the assembly rod flow means being the length-adjusting hopper 67, but forms the aggregate merging means by a plurality of vertically arranged chutes, and the rice straw 21 is applied to each chute. The supply may be performed to form an aggregate of a plurality of stages of rice straws 21, and these aggregates may be naturally dropped at the downstream end of each chute to be joined.

[0064]

According to the rice straw mulching material according to the first aspect of the present invention, the mulching material is sewn side by side in a horizontal direction so that the rice straw extends in the vertical direction. By taking it, it is packed in a cylindrical shape. Therefore, when laying the mulching material on the created slope, the mulching material is easily laid on the slope by placing the packed mulching material on the slope and rolling it back on the slope. can do. Therefore, the laying work is easier than in the case where the straw bundles are laid one by one on the slope as in the related art, and the working cost can be reduced.

Moreover, the disadvantage that the thickness of the straw bundle in the laid state is not uniform, which has occurred in the case of the straw bundle, does not occur, and the thickness can always be made uniform. The unevenness of the mulching effect due to the unevenness of the various thickness dimensions can be eliminated, and the entire slope is uniformly mulched, making the entire slope suitable for planting. be able to.

The straw bed is formed by piercing each tip into another assembly in a state where the tips of two sets of rice straws having the same tip are opposed to each other. Therefore, the ends of the straw bed in the width direction are such that the tip of the rice straw with a small diameter and the root of the rice straw with a large diameter are almost evenly mixed, and the size of the diameter offsets each other. By matching, the thickness of the straw floor becomes uniform, the lateral lengths of the both sides in the width direction become the same, and the weight per unit area becomes uniform, so that the mulching material is laid on the slope. And rice straw is laid uniformly on the slope, and a uniform mulching effect can be obtained.

Further, the width of the mulching material is arbitrarily set up to a little less than twice the length of the rice straw by adjusting the amount of the tip of one of the aggregates sunk into the other of the aggregates. This is advantageous in increasing the degree of freedom in setting the dimensions of the mulching material.

According to the rice straw mulching material of the second aspect of the present invention, since the basis weight of the straw floor is set to ² to 5 kg / m ² , the basis weight is equivalent to a state where straw bundles are loosely tied. Therefore, the mulching material has the same air circulation as that of the conventional straw bunches, and the soil can be exposed by inserting the hands and pushing it apart, so that the plant can be planted in any part of the mulching material. Can be planted, and the planting layout can be set arbitrarily.

According to the rice straw mulching material of the third aspect of the present invention, since a biodegradable sewing thread is used for sewing, the rice straw forming the mulching material is kept pace with the biodegradation. At the same time, the sewing thread is also biodegraded, and only the sewing thread remains without decay, thereby eliminating the inconvenience of soil contamination.

According to the rice straw mulching material of the fourth aspect of the present invention, since a sewing thread made of vinylon is used, the sewing thread made of vinylon is replaced with a sewing thread made of another biodegradable synthetic resin. This is inexpensive, and is advantageous in reducing the material cost of the mulching material.

According to the rice straw mulching material manufacturing apparatus according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, a raw material for arranging a large number of rice straws in a horizontal direction so as to have a predetermined thickness in a vertical state. A supply unit, a forming unit for forming a straw floor by pressing a set of rice straws aligned in the raw material supply unit to a predetermined thickness, and sewing a mulching material by sewing the straw floor in rows in a plurality of rows. The raw material supply unit is provided with an assembly merging means for merging a plurality of rows of aligned rice straw into one row, so that the rice straw is oriented in a vertical direction. By successively supplying the raw material supply unit so as to be aligned in the horizontal direction so as to have the thickness dimension, the rice straw aggregates are sequentially sent to the forming unit, where the aggregates are subjected to the press molding process. You can get the floor. This straw floor is subjected to a predetermined sewing process at the next sewing section, whereby the mulching material according to the present invention can be obtained.

Then, the aggregates in the plurality of rows are merged into one row by the aggregate merging means provided in the raw material supply unit. The tip of the straw is oriented in the same direction, and the direction of the tip is different between the aggregates. The thick portions of the other rice straws are in contact with each other, and the thickness of the straw floor formed by the merged aggregate can be easily made uniform.

According to the rice straw mulching material manufacturing apparatus of the sixth aspect of the present invention, the aggregate merging means includes a wide portion having a width dimension corresponding to an aggregate of two rows of rice straw, and the wide portion. And a narrowed portion which is tapered so that the distance between the side walls gradually decreases toward the outlet side, so that rice straws are sequentially arranged so that two rows of aggregates are obtained in the wide portion. By the supply, each of the two rows of aggregates is guided to the side wall at the narrowing portion of the lengthening hopper, and is directed toward the center of the lengthening hopper. As they move toward the exit side, they enter each other into the other aggregates, and at the exit portion of the throttle unit, a single-row aggregate in which the aggregates merge can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a rice straw mulching material according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which a plurality of mulching materials are folded and stacked.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state where the folded mulching material of FIG. 2 is compressed.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a use form of the mulching material according to the present invention, showing a laid state when the number of seedlings such as trees is small.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a use form of the mulching material according to the present invention, showing a laid state in a case where the number of seedlings such as trees is planted or a case where a strong wind is frequent.

FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an embodiment of the rice straw mulching material manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mulching material 11 Folded product 12 Compressed product 2 Straw floor 21 Rice straw 3 Sewing thread 4 Rope 5 Mulching material manufacturing device 6 Raw material supply unit 61 Receiving conveyor 62 Roller 63 Conveyor belt 64 Spike member 65 Support plate 66 Spike 67 Adjusting hopper 68 Wide part 69 Narrowing part 7 Forming part 71 Spike roller 72 Drive shaft 73 Cover 75 Intermediate conveyor 76 Roller 77 Conveyor belt 8 Sewing part 81 Base plate 82 Presser plate 83 Sewing mechanism 84 Needle support arm 85 Sewing needle 86 Bobbin case 87 Discharge conveyor 88 Dispensing roller

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A straw bed having a predetermined thickness is formed by arranging a large number of rice straws in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the rice straw so as to be parallel to each other. A rice straw mulching material sewn at a plurality of locations in the longitudinal direction of the rice straw over the entire length in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction, wherein the straw floor is made up of two aggregates of rice straw having the same ear tips. A rice straw mulching material characterized by being formed such that each tip portion is sunk into another assembly with the tip portions facing each other. 2. The straw floor has a basis weight of 2 to 5 kg / m.
^2. The rice straw mulching material according to claim 1, wherein the value is set to ² . 3. The rice straw mulching material according to claim 1, wherein a sewing thread used for the sewing is biodegradable. 4. The rice straw mulching material according to claim 3, wherein said sewing thread is made of vinylon. 5. A raw material supply unit, a forming unit, and a sewing unit, wherein the raw material supply unit is configured to lay a large number of rice straws in a direction orthogonal to a longitudinal direction of the rice straw so as to have a predetermined thickness. The rice straw aggregates obtained by aligning the rice straws are merged into one by an aggregate merging means, and the molding unit reduces the rice straw aggregates joined by the raw material supply unit to a predetermined thickness. The sewn portion is configured to sew the straw floor formed by the formed portion in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the rice straw extends to form a mulching material. A mulching material manufacturing apparatus, comprising: 6. The aggregate merging means includes a wide portion having a width dimension longer than a length of the rice straw aggregates of the two rice straw aggregates in the longitudinal direction, and an inlet side connected to the wide portion.
In addition, the distance between the side walls is tapered so as to gradually decrease toward the outlet side, and the width on the outlet side is set to be shorter than the length of the two rice straw aggregates in the longitudinal direction. The rice straw mulching material manufacturing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a narrowed portion.