Patel, S. K.Kumar, Vasu2020-10-212020-10-212020MT/FMPE/488/2018-19https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810153521Vegetables production is one of the enumerative as well as job creative farming. Cabbage production is one of the most important vegetable crops in abroad as well as India. It has high nutritive values, high productivity and wider adaptability. India is second largest producer of cabbage in the world. Harvesting of cabbage crop is one of the most difficult tasks for cabbage growers because cabbage crop is harvest at proper maturity stage for higher production and more income. Traditionally, the well matured cabbages are harvested manually by sickle which is time consuming and inefficient. More over manual harvesting is done in a bending position which is arduous to the farmer and causes backache. Therefore, a project on development of battery-operated push type cabbage (Brassica oleracea. L.) harvester was undertaken. The biometric parameters of the cabbage relevant to the cabbage harvester were determined. The average row to row and plant to plant spacing was 520 and 505 mm. The average plant height and head height was 281.1 and 106.85 mm. The average values for plant diameter, head diameter, plant weight and head weight were 389.05 mm, 128.05 mm, 1.75 kg and 1.41 kg, respectively. Whereas, the average values for stem diameter, length of leaf stem and length of stem were 27.5 mm, 58.35 mm and 44.7 mm, respectively. Based on above measured parameters, a battery operated push type cabbage harvester was developed which consisted of main frame, battery, DC motor, circular saw blade, belt conveyor, storage unit, handle and supporting wheel. The major components of cabbage harvester were cabbage cutting and conveying unit. Cabbage cutting unit consist of circular saw blade of 20 cm diameter. Cabbage conveying unit consisted of belt conveyor with lugs which convey the cabbages to storage unit. Cabbage cutting and conveying was done mechanically by means of electric motor which is powered by battery. The push force required for transportation and field condition were 44 N and 88 N, respectively. Whereas, the power required for cutting and conveying were 108 W and 84 W, respectively. The performance of the developed cabbage harvester was evaluated in the field at three forward speed. It was observed that the average cutting efficiency, conveying efficiency and head damage were 94.24%, 90.16% and 9.84 % respectively. The effective field capacity and field efficiency of developed cabbage harvester was of 0.0058 ha/h and 82.85%, respectively at forward speed of 0.14 km/h. The field capacity by traditional method i.e. by sickle was 0.0041 ha/h. The labour required per hectare was 172.4 man-h and 241.54 man-h by developed cabbage harvester and traditional method, respectively. The total cost of developed cabbage harvester was Rs. 15072/-. The estimated cost of harvesting per hectare was Rs 7768.79/ha and Rs. 9057.97/ha by developed cabbage harvester and traditional method, respectively. Hence, net saving in harvesting cost was Rs. 1289.18/ha as compared to manual harvesting of cabbage. The cabbages cut per hour was 253 and 180 by cabbage harvester and traditional method, respectively. The developed cabbage harvester was able to cut 73 more cabbage per hour as compared to traditional method.EnglishThesis