ASSESSMENT OF LOSSES AND ENERGY INPUT IN DIFFERENT POST HARVEST OPERATIONS OF WHEAT CROP

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Date
2005
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Volume Title
Publisher
Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur (C.G.)
Abstract
Wheat is a major subsistence food for the population of the whole country. In India, wheat is grown in almost all the states in northern and cental India. In Chhattisgarh state the wheat is cultivated in about one lakh hectare area after harvest of rice crop. The wheat crop undergoes a series of operations during harvest and post harvest operations. The losses do occur at different stages of harvest and post harvest operations in the wheat crop. Energy is a major factor that affects the economics and productivity of the food grains. The knowledge about physical and engineering properties like size and shape, bulk and true densities, angle of repose etc of any bio material is essential to design equipment for planting, harvesting, transportation, storage and processing of the seeds/ grains. Therefore, the investigation undertaken with the following objectives; to assess the post harvest losses of wheat at different stages of operation, to study the energy use pattern in different harvest and post harvest farm operations and effect of moisture on various engineering and physical properties of wheat seed. Per cent losses were assessed in the selected wheat fields at different stages of operations such as pre-harvest, harvesting, bundling, transportation, threshing and cleaning/winnowing. Experiments for physical properties were conducted at five different moisture levels ranging from 8.4 to 20.3 per cent (wb) by using standard techniques. The energy input in the post harvest operations were calculated using the energy coefficients and standard methods (Mittal and Dhawan, 1988). Harvesting, transportation and threshing losses of wheat were predominant and total loss was estimated as 8.03 per cent for Sujata, 8.60 per cent for WH-147 and 9.25 per cent for GW-273 variety. The length, width, thickness, volume, sphericity, porosity, thousand grain weight, filling and emptying angle of repose of wheat seeds increased from 5.84 to 6.90 mm, 3.75 to 4.53 mm, 3.61 to 4.35 mm, 0.030 to 0.039 mm3, 0.703 to 0.732, 38.43 to 40.53 per cent, 41.90 to 54.50 g and 15.74 to 23.62 and 22.08 to 29.33 respectively in the moisture content range from 8.4 to 20.3 per cent (wb). The coefficient of external friction of wheat seeds increased from 0.364 to 0.727 for plywood, 0.344 to 0.633 for mild steel , 0.327 to 0.721 for glass in the foresaid moisture range. Bulk and true densities of wheat seeds decreased from 850 to 693.25 kg/m3 and 1380.66 to 1165.76 kg/m3 in the experimental moisture range. Total energy used for harvesting of wheat was in the range of 136.92 to 571.85 MJ/ha. It was higher for tractor-mounted reaper and lower for sickle. In case of threshing by mechanical thresher the energy input was 442.48 MJ/ha whereas it was 1570 MJ/ha with manual threshing. The transportation of wheat crop from the field by tractor trolley recorded 125.93 MJ/ha and by head load it was 62.72 MJ/ha.
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Keywords
ASSESSMENT, LOSSES, ENERGY INPUT, DIFFERENT POST HARVEST OPERATIONS, WHEAT CROP
Citation
98p.
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