Testing of tractor mounted groundnut pods collector and its comparison with traditional method

Abstract

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) is an important oil seed and cash crop. In Pakistan, it is grown in sandy loam soil of Pothwar region of Punjab Province. The main problem being faced by growers is its postharvest losses depending upon the soil texture, cultivar and climatic conditions. To minimize these postharvest losses, left-over groundnut pods are picked manually by farm workers either in sitting or bending posture which is laborious, costly and time consuming. In this research tractor mounted groundnut pods picking machine was tested in term of collected pods (%), damaged pods (%), left-over pods (%) and un-dug pods (%) at three tractor forward speeds (0.8-1.4 kmh -1 , 1.4-2.0 kmh -1 , 2.0-2.6 kmh -1 ) against three soil moisture contents (7.8%, 8.7%, 10.5%). The collected data were analyzed statistically using CRD design in appropriate software Statistix 8.1. The statistically analysis indicated that at speed (1.4-2.0 kmh -1 ) highest pods collection efficiency, lowest damaged pods, left-over pods and undug pods were observed 91.7, 0.9, 6.1 and 1.2% respectively. At moisture content M1 (7.8%) machine showed highest picking efficiency (91.08%). The economical comparison showed that there was 33.75% decrease in cost of operation and 68.75% decrease in time of operation using groundnut pods picking machine than traditional pods picking method. The machine performance was satisfactory and it is recommended to pick leftover pods in the field after harvesting to save time and cost of operation and sowing of winter crops.