DEVELOPMENT OF A HARVESTING MACHINE FOR PEANUT

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Agric. Eng. Dept., Fac. Agric., Zagazig Univ., Egypt

Abstract

Field experiments were carried to develop and evaluate a peanut harvesting machine at El-qureen city, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt. The planted peanut crop variety was Giza6. A harvesting machine has been developed, which performs direct harvesting of peanut. The performance of the developed harvesting machine was conducted under the following parameters: four different forward speeds of 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3 km/hr., four different chain speeds of 53.33, 61.67, 70.00 and 78.33 m/min and four soil moisture contents (d.b.) of 9.3, 12.4, 15.7 and 18.6%. The performance of the developed machine was evaluated taking into consideration field capacity, field efficiency, total harvesting losses, machine productivity, required power, specific energy, operating and criterion costs. The experimental results reveal to the following: Forward speed is 2.5 km/hr., soil moisture content is 15.7% and the chain speed is 70 m/min.

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