DEVELOPMENT OF ON-FARM ONION GRADER
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Date
2015-07-10
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UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES GKVK, BENGALURU
Abstract
Physical (polar, equatorial, transverse and geometric mean diameters, bulk and true
densities, unit mass, shape index, compressive strength) and frictional properties (angle
of repose and static coefficient friction on various surfaces) of onion bulbs of three
genotypes namely, Satara Garva, Arka Kalyan and Bangalore Rose Onion were
determined. Grading performance of three existing grading equipments– motorized
oscillatory type, motorized roller type and manual sieve type onion graders were
evaluated for their suitability to the selected onion varieties. A manually operated
prototype tubular on-farm onion grader was developed using locally available material
and tested for its grading performance for the three onion genotypes. The effects of
grading slope (13, 15 & 18°) and feed rate (300, 450 and 600 kg/h) on grading
effectiveness, bulb damage and grading capacity of the developed grader were studied.
For selected three onion varieties, the grading effectiveness was in the range of 0.899 to
0.948, bulb damage was 0.327 to 1.425% and grading capacity was 268 to 285 kg/h. For
optimum grading performance in the developed grader, 130 grading slope and 300 kg/h
feed rate were found to be optimum for tested onion varieties. The cost of grading onion
in the developed grader was Rs. 130 per tonne and the Cost : Benefit Ratio was worked
out to be 1.00 : 7.69. The developed prototype was found to be good for on-farm grading
of selected onion genotypes.
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