DEVELOPMENT OF MANUAL DRAWN ENGINE POWERED LEAFY CROP HARVESTER 2922
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Date
2019-08
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JAU, JUNAGADH
Abstract
Different leafy crops such as leafy vegetables are important class of agricultural
products at the national and international levels. Coriander is one of the spices used by
mankind and has been cultivated since antiquity. India ranks first in the production of
coriander. As far as area under cultivation and production of coriander are concerned,
Gujarat occupies third position in the country. Junagadh ranks first in the production of
coriander in Gujarat. Other districts in the Gujrat cultivating coriander are Porbandar,
Gir Somanth, Amreli, Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Patan, Mehsana, etc.
Coriander is an annual herb. The plants attain heights from 0.2 to 1.2 m and flower 45
to 60 days after sowing. Row to row distance for coriander was generally taken 0.2 to
0.3 m. Coriander leaves are harvested, the plant will continue to produce new foliage
until it goes to seed. That usually occurs around 40 days after the seed germinates. In
India, mostly harvesting of leafy crops is done manually with the help of sickle which
results in considerable amount of labour drudgery, time and cost to harvest, which
reflects on total production cost of the crop. Timely harvesting is important to reduce
damage due to moulds and insects. The shortage of labour is thus to be bridged by
mechanization. A suitable mechanized harvesting of leafy crops is an immediate need
which can reduce drudgery, minimize losses and increase productivity, avoid weather
risk, achieve low cost of harvesting and derive benefit from early marketing of
produces. Therefore, manual drawn engine powered leafy crop harvester was developed
which is suitable to a large group of the farmers of the country and their fields. The
major components of the machines include the cutting unit (reciprocating cutter bar),
the slider crank mechanism, the reel, conveyor, storage crate and the frame. Cutter bar
type blade was used. Leafy crop stem was cut by the cutter bar blade which was
powered by engine. The slider mechanism was an arrangement of crank and connecting
arm which convert the rotary motion of eccentric wheel to reciprocating motion of the
cutter bar. Leafy crops were guided to conveyer belt by reel. Leafy crops were conveyed
to crates by inclined conveyer. Cutter bar, reel and conveyer were powered by engine
which was supplied through gear box and belt and pulley arrangement. Experiments
were conducted in the coriander field by varying crank speeds (200, 300 and 400 rpm)
and forward speed ranges (0.9-1.2, 1.3-1.6 and 1.7-2.0 km/h) in different combinations.
Two factorial completely randomized design was adapted for the experiment by taking
three replications. The results were analysed statistically. The performance of the
device was evaluated by determining effective field capacity, field efficiency, cutting
efficiency, fuel consumption, heart rate, oxygen consumption rate and energy ii
expenditure rate. The cost of harvesting with developed harvester was also calculated.
The highest effective field capacity of developed harvester was found to be 86.42×10-3
ha/h for the combination of crank speed at 200 rpm and 1.7-2.0 km/h of forward speed.
The highest field efficiency and cutting efficiency were found to be 87.29 % and 96.28
% respectively with the combination of crank speed of 400 rpm and forward speed of
0.9-1.2 km/h. The lowest fuel consumption was found to be 0.56 l/h with the
combination of crank speed of 200 rpm and forward speed of 1.7-2.0 km/h. Increase in
heart rate, oxygen consumption rate and energy expenditure rate were found lowest of
26.54 %, 0.33 l/min and 7 kJ/min respectively with the combination of crank speed of
200 rpm and forward speed of 0.9-1.2 km/h. Economic point of view, it was found that
hourly cost of operation of ₹ 129.73/h and cost of harvesting of ₹ 1907.79/ha.