Tractor Mounted Root Crop Harvester cum Elevator
A root crop harvester-cum-elevator has been developed at PAU, Ludhiana for digging onion and other root crops. The field capacity of the machine is 0.28, 0.24, 0.21 and 0.21 ha/h for digging of carrot, potato, garlic and onion crops, respectively at a forward speed of 2.78, 2.41, 2.10 and 2.10 km/h. The damage to tubers is 1.98, 1.92 1.22 and less than 1.0% for digging of carrot, potato, garlic and onion crops, respectively. The approximate cost of the machine is Rs. 60,000/-. The saving in cost of operation and labour for harvesting onion, carrot and garlic is 52.28, 46.71, 52.28%, and 69.05, 59.29 and 69.05%, respectively as compared to manual harvesting.
Tractor Operated Groundnut Digger Elevator
A tractor operated (26 kW and above) groundnut digger cum elevator has been developed at PAU, Ludhiana. It consists of a digging blade of 1200 mm width, elevator-cum-pick up reel, fenders, gauge wheel, coulters and power transmission system. The front end of the pick-up cum elevator reel is adjustable based on depth of working of blade. The front end of the pick-up rod is adjusted such that the spikes comb about 30 mm of the top soil to lift vines gently from the loose soil. It digs the groundnut vines below the pod zone and elevates them by an elevator-picker reel (conveyor) for dropping on the ground. The soil attached to the vines is shaken off in the process and a windrow is formed with the help of deflector rods. The vines are dropped in such a manner that pods get exposed to the sun for speedy drying. The machine can uproot and invert 0.16-0.21 ha/h. The unit price of the machine is Rs. 50,000/ and its cost of operation is Rs. 3,200/ha. The machine saves 65% in labour and 32% in cost of operation.
Tractor Operated Garlic Harvester
Garlic harvesting is a very time consuming and requires labour of about 30 man-days/ha. Farmers go for single pass of duck foot cultivator for loosening of garlic bulbs from soil and bulbs are collected manually. A tractor operated garlic harvester cum windrower has been developed at MPUAT, Udaipur for harvesting of garlic. The machine consists of a blade with triangular point knives mounted over a MS flat for its use in heavy soil for smaller size soil clods and less draft requirement. The machine has chain type separating mechanism made of MS bars of 12 mm at spacing of 38 mm along with horizontal vibrating forks of 250 mm length at spacing of 200 mm for good separation of soil from clods. The windrower unit is made of MS bars at spacing of 25 mm and mounted at 90 degree to conveyor direction in two unequal halves. The power is given by tractor pto to gearbox with a ratio of 1:1. The oscillating vibrating fork is also given power from gearbox with crank pinion arrangement. The effective field capacity of machine is 0.26 ha/h. The digging losses range 2-3 bulbs/m². The unit price of machine is Rs. 35,000/ and its cost of operation is Rs. 3,885/ha.
Tractor Operated Cassava Harvester
In India, cassava is presently harvested manually by loosening the soil with crowbar if the soil is compact. The plant is pulled up gently without dragging the roots. Dragging can cause bruises and cuts to roots which may lead to early deterioration. This operation requires about 40 man days/ha. A tractor operated cassava harvester has been developed at TNAU, Coimbatore to eliminate this laborious process. It consists of main frame, shanks, digging blade, hitching frame and depth adjustment wheels. It is designed for both two rows and single row operation. The shank is designed as a bent leg plough with an angle of 150o to accommodate the dug cassava tubers. The blade angle of 5ois provided for easy penetration into the soil. The row spacing can be altered by moving the shanks in the main frame. The depth wheels are provided to adjust the depth of operation. The harvester is tested in association with M/s SPAC Tapioca Products Limited, Anthiyur and works well with two rows in sandy soils and with single row in heavy soils at optimum moisture content. The field capacity is 0.08 ha/h for single row and 0.17 ha/h for two rows machine. The undug tuber is 2.5% and damage to tubers is less than 1%. The unit price of the machine is Rs. 30,000/. The cost of operation of cassava harvester is Rs. 2,380/ha and saves 40% in cost as compared to manual harvesting.
Tractor Drawn Turmeric Digger
A 33.6 kW tractor drawn turmeric digger of 1.45 m width has been developed at PJTSAU, Hyderabad. The penetration of blade of the digger into the soil is easy at blade rake angle of 55o and an additional dead weight of 150 kg is required for deeper penetration. The implement can dug four rows at 300-350 mm depth in single pass at 2.5 km/h tractor speed with a field capacity of 0.36 ha/h. The developed turmeric digger is working well for digging the turmeric rhizome lying 200-250 mm deep into soil, with negligible damage. The cost of the implement is Rs. 22,000-25,000/-. The cost of digging of turmeric with the implement is Rs. 4,830/ha.
Tubular Maize Sheller
It is a manual operated sheller suitable for shelling maize from dehusked cobs. Shelling is done by holding the sheller in left hand and gradually inserting the cob into the sheller by right hand with little forward and backward twist. The capacity of sheller is 15-20 kg/h. It costs Rs. 60/- and cost of operation is Rs. 75/kg.
Pedal Operated Thresher
It is suitable for threshing rice. It consists of wire-loop type threshing cylinder operated by foot pedal or motor. It saves 20%labour and 40% operating time as compared to conventional method of hand beating on a wooden platform. It costs Rs. 5,500/- and its cost of operation is Rs. 28/q.
Groundnut-cum-Castor Decorticator
It is a manually operated oscillating type device having cast iron shoes with triangular projections for decortication of groundnut and castor pods to separate kernels. Separate concaves are provided for decorticating groundnut and castor. It is not provided with cleaning device. It costs Rs. 2400/- and its cost of operation is Rs. 0.56/kg. It saves 98%in labour and operating time and 89% in cost of operation as compared to conventional method of hand shelling.
Power Operated Axial Flow Sunflower Thresher
An axial flow thresher is operated by 5.6 kW motor or tractor and is suitable for threshing sunflower. It consists of a feed hopper, bar type cylinder, thrower, two sieves, concave and a blower. The cylinder of length 1500 mm has two portions; the first one of 1300 mm is for threshing and the second one of 200 mm for straw throwing. The threshing portion has raised spikes. The cylinder-concave clearance is 40 mm and is uniform throughout its length. The cylinder is hexagonal in shape and is fitted with seven louvers at a spacing of 180 mm. The cleaning system consists of a centrifugal blower and three sieves inclined at an angle of 7-15o. The axial flow thresher has a capacity of 8.0 q/h clean grains. The threshing efficiency of the thresher is more than 99%. The unit price is Rs. 80,000/. The cost of operation of this machine is Rs. 450/t as compared to Rs. 1000/t with conventional method. There is a saving of 85% in labour, 75% in time and 30% in cost of operation.