The production capacity and specific energy consumption in forage choppers type Disintegrator/Chopper/Grinder for elephant grass processing were evaluated. The treatments consisted of the combination of three forage choppers (DPM-1, DPm-2 and DPM-4), each operating in five different rotations, three oblique angles of the knives and two angles of the knives' edges. The experimental design used was completely randomized with two repetitions, and the results were evaluated by means of the regression analysis. The oblique angle of 10º led to greater efficiency for the three DPMs. In some situations, the oblique angle of 38º provided better performance for DPMs 1 and 2, while in others, the angle of 30º provided better performance for DPM-4. It is possible to lower production costs, when working at lower rotation speeds, due to the specific consumption being reduced. Although the DPM-4 has presented a lower energy demand, it is worth pointing out that this machine is more expensive than the other two models and presents greater difficulty in feeding, forcing the farmer to employ an extra person to execute this process.
agricultural machines; energy demand; energy efficiency
