AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING TODAY ISSN : 0970-2962
Vol. 39(4) October-December, 2015
Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers
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Vol. 39(4), 2015
Techno-Economic Feasibility Study of Low Cost Gravity Ropeway for Carrying Agricultural Produce in Hilly Terrain S N Yadav1 (LM-10154) and T K Khura2 1
College of Agricultural Engineering and Post Harvest Technology (Central Agricultural University), Ranipool, Gangtok – 737135, Sikkim, India. 2
Division of Agricultural Engineering, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi–110012, India E-mail:
[email protected] Manuscript received: May 2, 2014
Revised manuscript accepted: August 25, 2015
ABSTRACT The agricultural produce from the field to the homestead/market or road head in the mountain areas is transported mainly by the women and children on their back hanging from the forehead. Construction of farm road and bridges in hilly area is difficult, costly and require frequent maintenance due to landslide besides environmental degradation. A study on feasibility of transporting the agricultural produce in hilly area by gravity fed ropeway was conducted at College of Agricultural Engineering and Post Harvest Technology (CAEPHT), Gangtok at 300 slope and 150 m span. It was observed that the speed of the ropeway is insignificantly affected by the loading capacity, the load ratio between the upward and downward load went on reducing as the upward load was increased and relation between the gravity load and lifting load with regression coefficient of 0.9978 was observed. The regression equation “y = 1.1594 x + 12.727” may be used to find out the gravity load required for carrying a particular load from lower station to upper station. The constant 12.727 indicate the dead load to initiate the movement of trolley which may be due to frictional force between rope and pulley of the trolley at this particular slope and span. Actual loading ratio should be carefully evaluated and should be maintained. If the loading ratio is not properly maintained, the trolley will either approach the station with excessive speed or stop in between. This may be achieved by maintaining the average speed of the trolley at 5.13 ms-1. Key words: Gravity ropeway, agricultural produce, environmental degradation, technoeconomic feasibility INTRODUCTION
clear from any type of obstructions like buildings and trees. Motorable road is not only important but also very essential for economic development. However, road construction in mountainous areas is difficult, expensive, both from the viewpoint of huge capital investment required, and damage to the environment. The farm roads built in rural areas have benefited rural communities; however, it has negative environmental and social impact as well. Moreover, most of these roads eventually become unusable by vehicles due to landslides. Construction and maintenance of road and bridges for connecting to each and every isolated settlement located on steep and unstable slopes and/or across rivers is almost becomes impossible.
Agreeing that road networking to connect each and every mountain village cause immense damage to the environment, involved huge capital and create problem during rainy season due to landslide, the construction of gravity ropeways would provide an environment friendly rural transport option without use of any external energy (Adhikari, 2009). The construction, installation, operation and maintenance are simple and can be done easily. It can be installed at any slope preferably between 200 to 300 and to any extend of span up to 1500 m (conveniently) even across the river (Adhikari, 2009). The only limiting constraint is that the site should be 1
Agricultural Engineering Today MATERIALS AND METHOD
Transporting agricultural produce from the field to home stead/market/road head is exhaustive and dangerous. Generally women and children carry these heavy loads on their backs hanging from the fore head (Banskota et. al., 2006). When it rains, or there’s a landslide, the situation becomes more pathetic. It generally used to take 2-3 hours to carry about 40 kg loads for about 1.3 km down/up a steep mountain path of the gruelling journey to market (Awadh and Paul, 2007). Therefore, it is crucial to explore environment-friendly rural transport options.
Technical details of the ropeway: In its most basic form, it consists of a single span made with fibre rope, simply anchored at both ends. It operates by gravitational force without the use of external power. The gravity ropeway consists of two trolleys, which roll on support tracks. These are attached to a control cable in the middle, which moves in a traditional flywheel system. A heavier load is allowed to slide down at a certain angle; the same force helps to pull a slightly lower weight from the other end. A flywheel with a bearing and bracket located at the downhill station is used as a brake. The operator at the upper end strikes the wire rope with a stick to send a wave signal to the operator at the lower end. The person at the lower station then applies hand brakes, to control the flywheel. Since the ropeways traverse straight paths, capital, operation, and maintenance costs on a per km basis are all low. The trolleys’ progress is controlled by another wire looped over a flywheel. A wooden drum brake, with bearing and bracket, governs their speed. One such ropeway (Fig. 1) was installed and evaluated at College of Agricultural Engineering and Post Harvest technology (Central Agricultural University) Ranipool, Gangtok (Sikkim). The specification of the ropeway installed is given in Table 1.
One such proven green transportation technology is gravity ropeway which is based on the Newton’s law. The gravity ropeway is very common in Nepal and Himachal Pradesh, India. These are mainly used for marketing of agricultural produce and other goods. It significantly reduces human drudgery and the hardships faced by farmers who continue to ferry agricultural products and domestic articles on their backs. The construction and maintenance cost of gravity ropeways is cheaper (Willenbockel, 2011). However, it is extremely important to consider safety issues involved, including possible accidents and other occupational and safety hazards related to this type of transportation system. Like all other technologies, gravity ropeway also has some limitations. The appropriate span of gravity ropeway is limited to 1500 meter. When the span exceeds 1500 meter, the rope tension due to its own weight become huge as the rope is suspended between two points only. Likely, energy loss due to friction is more in longer span ropeway, which results stoppage of trolley before reaching to the landing station or more gravity load may be required (Shambhu, 2012). The elevation difference of top and bottom station with respect to the span is crucial for gravity ropeway. Gravity Ropeway cannot operate if the angle of elevation is less than 15 degree. The upper limit of the slope can go as high as 40 degree if proper arrangement for preventing derailing of the trolley is made (Brent and Edward, 2006). But the gravity ropeway operates best if the slope ranges from 20 to 30 degree. It has very limited capacity to carry from down to up. So, this technology is not suitable for the place where more load is to haul up than to send down (Willenbockel, 2011). As a rule of thumb, the downward moving load should be three times as heavy as the upward moving load.
Fig. 1: Installation of gravity ropeway
Installation: The gravity rope way was installed at the site having clear span free from obstruction of tree or building, required slope (the gravity system works well between 150 to 400 slopes) was selected. The upper station was accessible 2
Vol. 39(4), 2015 Table 1: Brief specification of the gravity rope way installed at CAEPHT, Gangtok Sl. No.
Components
Specification(s)
Quantity, No.
(1) Upper station (i)
Support column
MS pipe, 100 mm dia and 300 mm height
01
(ii)
Flywheel
Cast iron, heavy duty, 600 mm dia, fitted on iron rail support with two roller bearings
01
(iii)
Brake system
Wooden shoe type, hand lever control
01
(2) Lower station (i)
Support column
MS pipe, 100 mm dia and 300 mm height
01
(ii)
Flywheel
Cast iron, heavy duty, 600 mm dia, fitted on iron rail support with two roller bearings
01
(3) Control cable
150 m loop between lower and upper station flywheel, 6 mm dia rope, 0.20 kg/m weight
01
(4) Support cable
150 m length between lower and upper station, 10 mm dia rope, 0.60 kg/m weight
01
(5) Tie rope
6 mm dia, 20 m length, 0.20 kg/m weight
02
(6) Carriage (trolley)
620 × 480 × 450 mm size made of MS flat weighing 30 kg
02
(7) Span
130 m
-
to National Highway. The site has support span of 150 m, hauling span of 130 m, elevation difference of 75 m and slope of 30 degrees. Both the support cables were grouted (in full tension stage) at both the ends passing over the support columns. Three m distance between these two cables was maintained to avoid the collision of two carriages. The face of the flywheels at both the ends was aligned to avoid the side thrust and spill over of rope from the groove. The upper station flywheel was attached with abrasion type brake mechanism having wooden shoe to regulate the speed. The control cable was wrapped around the flywheels to make a loop. One trolley was suspended at one end of the support cable by two pulleys. The other trolley was suspended at opposite end of the other support cable. Both the trolleys were tied to the control cable for their movement in opposite direction. After the installation, the trial run of the ropeway (Fig. 2) at different down word load at 30 degree slope was done to assess the load ratio between down word and up word (lifting) load, velocity, ease of operation and its feasibility. The data recorded are given in Table 2. The physiological data like heart rate in BPM (Beats per minute), body temperature and blood pressure were recorded for only 3 subjects
Fig. 2: The gravity ropeway in operation (left); right load being carried their back hanging from the forehead
3
Agricultural Engineering Today Table 2: Load ratio and speed of ropeway at 300 slope and 150 m span Sl. Lifting load Downward Load ratio No. (kg) load (Lifting load (Gravity to downward load (kg) load)
Time (sec) Test-1
Test-2
Test-3
Average
Speed (m/s)
Speed (km/h)
1
No load
12
0.00
29.50
29.40
29.35
29.41
5.10
18.36
2
1
13
1:13.00
30.25
30.20
30.25
30.23
4.96
18.86
3
2
14
1:7.00
29.60
29.55
29.50
29.55
5.07
18.27
4
3
15
1:5.00
31.10
31.05
31.00
31.05
4.83
17.39
5
4
17
1:4.25
29.45
29.55
29.35
29.45
5.09
18.33
6
5
20
1:4.00
29.35
29.45
29.55
29.45
5.09
18.33
7
6
21
1:3.50
28.85
28.70
29.00
28.85
5.20
18.71
8
7
22
1:3.14
31.20
31.30
30.75
31.08
4.82
17.37
9
8
23
1:2.87
28.70
29.20
29.15
29.01
5.17
18.61
10
9
24
1:2.66
30.15
29.80
30.10
30.01
4.99
18.00
11
10
25
1:2.50
31.15
31.20
31.10
31.15
4.81
17.33
12
11
26
1:2.36
29.80
30.00
29.90
29.90
5.01
18.06
13
12
27
1:2.25
31.40
31.45
31.35
31.40
4.77
17.19
14
13
28
1:2.34
30.50
30.40
30.35
30.41
4.93
17.75
15
14
29
1:2.07
29.70
29.65
29.75
29.70
5.05
18.18
16
15
30
1:2.00
28.75
29.00
28.80
28.85
5.20
18.71
17
16
31
1:1.93
29.30
29.45
29.55
29.43
5.09
18.34
18
17
32
1:1.88
30.10
30.15
30.10
30.11
4.98
17.93
19
18
33
1:1.83
29.60
29.45
29.35
29.46
5.09
18.32
20
19
34
1:1.78
29.10
28.75
28.80
28.88
5.19
18.69
21
20
35
1:1.75
28.75
29.00
28.80
28.85
5.20
18.71
22
21
37
1:1.76
29.35
29.45
29.55
29.45
5.09
18.33
23
22
38
1:1.72
28.85
28.80
28.85
28.83
5.20
18.71
24
23
39
1:1.69
29.30
29.45
29.55
29.43
5.09
18.34
25
24
40
1:1.66
28.75
29.00
28.80
28.85
5.20
18.71
26
25
41
1:1.64
27.80
27.85
28.00
27.88
5.38
19.36
27
26
42
1:1.61
28.85
28.70
29.00
28.85
5.20
18.71
28
27
43
1:1.59
28.70
28.75
28.65
28.70
5.22
18.81
29
28
44
1:1.57
29.10
28.75
28.80
28.88
5.19
18.69
30
29
45
1:1.55
29.70
29.65
29.75
29.70
5.05
18.18
31
30
46
1:1.53
29.30
29.45
29.55
29.43
5.09
18.34
32
31
48
1:1.54
29.35
29.45
29.55
29.85
5.20
18.71
33
32
50
1:1.56
28.75
29.00
28.80
28.85
5.20
18.71
34
33
52
1:1.57
28.70
29.20
29.15
29.01
5.17
18.61
4
Vol. 39(4), 2015 35
34
53
1:1.55
28.65
28.70
28.60
28.65
5.23
18.84
36
35
55
1:1.57
29.80
30.00
29.90
29.90
5.01
18.06
37
36
56
1:1.55
29.10
28.75
28.80
28.88
5.19
18.69
38
37
57
1:1.54
28.70
29.20
29.15
29.01
5.17
18.61
39
38
58
1:1.52
28.46
28.42
28.50
28.46
5.27
18.97
40
39
59
1:1.51
29.10
28.75
28.80
28.88
5.19
18.69
41
40
60
1:1.50
27.80
27.85
28.00
27.88
5.38
19.36
42
41
61
1:1.48
28.75
29.00
28.80
28.85
5.20
18.71
43
42
62
1:1.47
28.70
29.20
29.15
29.01
5.17
18.61
44
43
63
1:1.46
28.75
29.00
28.80
28.85
5.20
18.71
45
44
64
1:1.45
28.65
28.70
28.60
29.65
5.06
18.20
46
45
65
1:1.44
29.70
29.65
29.75
29.70
5.05
18.18
47
46
66
1:1.43
28.75
29.00
28.80
28.85
5.20
18.71
48
47
67
1:1.42
28.85
28.70
29.00
28.85
5.20
18.71
49
48
68
1:1.41
28.70
29.20
29.15
29.01
5.17
18.61
50
49
69
1:1.40
28.75
29.00
28.80
28.85
5.20
18.71
51
50
70
1:1.40
28.70
28.75
28.65
28.70
5.22
18.80
52
51
71
1:1.39
28.70
29.20
29.15
29.01
5.17
18.61
53
52
72
1:1.38
28.75
29.00
28.80
28.85
5.20
18.71
54
53
73
1:1.37
27.80
27.85
28.00
27.88
5.38
19.36
55
54
74
1:1.37
28.70
29.20
29.15
29.01
5.17
18.61
56
55
75
1:1.36
28.60
28.45
28.50
28.51
5.26
18.94
57
56
77
1:1.37
28.65
28.70
28.60
28.65
5.23
18.84
58
57
80
1:1.40
28.75
29.00
28.80
28.85
5.20
18.71
59
58
81
1:1.39
28.70
28.75
28.65
28.70
5.22
18.81
60
59
83
1:1.40
28.75
29.00
28.80
28.85
5.20
18.71
29.21
5.13
18.48
Average
(2 males and one female) for carrying the load by back load method to find out the drudgery associate in transportation of same load manually.
with regression coefficient of 0.9978 was observed (Fig. 3). The regression equation “y = 1.1594 x + 12.727” may be used to find out the gravity load required for carrying a particular load from lower station to upper station. The constant 12.727 indicated that 12.727 kg dead weight may be required to initiate the movement of trolley at 300 slopes. This 12.727 kg load may be required to overcome the frictional force between rope and pulley of the trolley. It may change with the change in slope. Further study through multi location trials to establish the relation between slope and required dead weight to initiate the movement of the trolley is needed.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The average speed of the ropeway was about 18.48 km/h and ranged between 17.39 to 19.36 km/h for the up word load from 01 kg to 59 kg (Table 2). It showed that speed of the ropeway is insignificantly affected by the loading capacity. The load ratio between the upward and downward load went on reducing as the upward load was increased. The linear relation between the gravity load and lifting load 5
Agricultural Engineering Today
Fig. 3: Relationship between gravity load (downward load) and lifting load
Cost–benefit analysis: In conception, benefits due to the project are measured in terms of the present value of real income gains compared to a “no-project” baseline. The cost-benefit analysis has certain assumptions to find out the economical feasibility of the presently installed ropeway at CAEPHT, Gangtok. The transportation cost was compared with the existing manual back load method of transportation.
Gravity ropeways represent an effective and viable mountain technology for enhancing market access and livelihood options, and for reducing drudgery in mountain areas. The change in present social structures in hilly areas are taking place where the young generation are not interested in head loading, the availability of porter is very poor and costly. While the saving in transport costs alone is sufficient to make the system financially viable, the technology should be promoted using an integrated market shed approach to enhance marketable surplus with complementary investment in production pockets. When marketable surpluses are increased, connecting isolated settlements to road heads not only further encourages marketable surpluses and contributes to improving livelihoods in the mountain areas. The huge savings in transportation time and cost makes gravity ropeways economically viable in mountain areas. Therefore, the ropeway system of transportation is feasible from technical, social and economic point of view. The Heart Rate of three subjects (Table 3) ranged from 99 to 131 with average value of 113.3 BPM after carrying the load. It showed that the carrying the back pack load may be categorized as moderate workload (Verghese et al., 1994). For women workers who are generally involved in carrying the farm produce it may be categorized as heavy workload (131 BPM). However, these values were only indicative as sample size was very small (3 subjects).
Assumptions: Initial cost/Capital cost, Rs. = 3,00,000 Interest rate, %
= 16
Life span, year
= 15
Salvage value, Rs.
= 20,000
Yearly use, h
= 600
Carrying capacity, kg/h
= 300 kg/h
Calculations: (1) Ownership cost (a) Depreciation
6
Yearly depreciation, Rs. = 300000 – 20000/15 = 18,666.00
Hourly depreciation, Rs. = 18666/600 = 31.11 say Rs. 30.00/h
Vol. 39(4), 2015 Table 3: Physiological observation during back-pack load carrying up to 150 m distance Sl. No.
subjects
Load carried, kg
Physiological data before carrying the load
after carrying the load
Body temp 0F
Blood pressure, mg
Heart rate (BPM)
Body temp 0F
Blood pressure, mg
Heart rate (BPM)
1
Subject-1 male, 18 years, body weight: 58 kg
25
98.5
139/87
91
98.9
140/95
110
2
Subject-2 male, 49 years, body weight: 47 kg
50
97.3
128/85
85
97.8
148/99
99
3
Subject-3 female, 24 years, body weight:40 kg
15
96.7
144/87
88
96.4
127/131
131
(b) Interest on investment
Annual interest, Rs. = (320000/2) ×16/100
Hourly interest, Rs. = 42.600 say 43.00
(c) Repair and maintenance
Hourly cost, Rs. = 1200/600 = Rs. 2.00/h
Total ownership cost = Rs. 45,466.00/year OR Rs. 75.00/h
Assuming that 2 operators are required and their daily wages is Rs. 300/day
Operating cost, Rs./h = 600/8 = 75.00
Total cost = Rs. 75.00 + 75.00 = Rs. 150.00
In one hour the load carried, kg = 300.00
Total operating cost, Rs./h = 150.00
Unit cost for carrying one kg load, Rs./kg = 0.50
Cost of carrying one kg load by porter, Rs./kg = 2.00
Annual revenue generated = 600 x 300 x 2 = Rs. 3,60,000.00 Breakeven point = Payback period = 300000/360000 = about 10 months From above, it is evident that the investment cost for installation of ropeway may be recovered within the year subject to the availability of material for handling. If 30,310 kg per year is transported, the installation of ropeway will be neither in loss nor in profit. Therefore, it should be assured that minimum quantity of produce is available for transportation. Therefore, installation of gravity ropeway in hilly terrain for transportation of agricultural produce and other materials is feasible from technical, environmental, social and economic point of view. It will reduce the drudgery to the male and female workers.
(2) Operating cost
Assuming the custom hiring cost of ropeway = Rs. 2.00/kg
However, greasing of bearings, pulleys and ropes are required. Also, tightening of wire is required if the slanginess is developed An amount of Rs. 1200.00/year may be assumed under this head.
The porter for carrying 50 kg load up to 1.00 km charge about Rs. 100.00
Carrying the same load by porter is four time costly than carrying by ropeway. Therefore, the installation of ropeway is economically feasible.
The ropeway system does not require much repair and maintenance.
7
Agricultural Engineering Today CONCLUSIONS
A project report on “to develop a methodology for the rapid assessment of rural transport services” submitted under Sub Sahara Africa Transport Policy Program by Practical Action Consulting.
The agricultural produce from the field to the homestead/market or road head in the mountain areas is transported mainly by the women and children on their back hanging from the forehead. Construction of farm road and bridges in hilly area is difficult, costly and require frequent maintenance due to landslide besides environmental degradation. Transporting the agricultural produce in hilly area by gravity fed ropeway at 300 slopes and 150 m span was installed. It was observed that the speed of the ropeway is insignificantly affected by the loading capacity. If 30,310 kg per year is transported, the installation of ropeway will be neither in loss nor in profit. Therefore, it should be assured that minimum quantity of produce is available for transportation. Therefore, installation of gravity ropeway in hilly terrain for transportation of agricultural produce and other materials is feasible from technical, environmental, social and economic point of view. It will reduce the drudgery to the male and female workers.
Banskota K; Sharma B; Malla B. 2006. Enhancing Market Access and Livelihood Options in the Himalayan Region Through Gravity Ropeways. Newsletter of International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, ISSN No. 1013-7386, No. 49, pp-16-18. Brent R J; Edward E.C. 2006. Applied Cost-Benefit Analysis. 2nd ed. Practical Action Nepal Vulnerability and Livelihood Capacity Assessment in the Project Site of Livelihood Centered Approach to Disaster Risk Reduction Project. Shambhu Dev Baral. 2012. Gravity Ropeway: Could be a reliable source of transport the goods and services in Hills and Mountainous region of Nepal. Presented during 6th International Symposium on Networks for Mobility. Varghese M A; Saha P N; Atreya N. 1994. A Rapid Appraisal of Occupational Workload from a Modified Scale of Perceived Exertion. Ergonomics, 37, p: 485-491.
REFERENCES Adhikari D P. 2009. Mainstreaming Livelihood Centred Approach to Disaster Risk Reduction: Nepal Component (Mid-Term Evaluation Report). Awadh A; Paul S. 2007. A Rapid Assessment of Rural Transport Services in Singida Region, Tanzania.
Willenbockel D. 2011. A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Practical Action’s Livelihood-Centred Disaster Risk Reduction Project in Nepal.
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Vol. 39(4), 2015
Development of Safety Attachment for Coconut Climbing Device H L Kushwaha1 (LM-10117) and Dushyant Singh2 (LM-10222) 2
1 Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal. E-mail:
[email protected]
Manuscript received: March 23, 2015
Revised manuscript accepted: September 23, 2015
ABSTRACT Climbing to coconut palm is essential for harvesting, cleaning, pollination and other research related activities. It is a very hazardous, tedious and risky task to climb on single stemmed 30 m or above having feather like leaves. This study is carried out to know the status of coconut climbing devices and to improve the most popular one used for this purpose to make it more users friendly. A broad review of literature of climbing devices pertaining to manual, self- propelled, tractor operated and robotic categories was made, interacted manufacturers, workers, farmers in coconut growing areas. A few climbing devices having potential were identified and evaluated in the field. Pedal type climbing device was found most suitable, faster, cheaper and easy to transport. But lack of safety was found a big hurdle in the adoption of this device by the new comers. A safety attachment was introduced by Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal in collaboration with Central Plantation Crop Research Institute, Kasaragod. This intervention has provided a great opportunity for the workers who want to adopt climbing as a profession but not having experience of traditional harvesting or climbing and having height phobia. This safety attachment also eliminates the risk of falling down. This safety features will attract more youngsters towards adoption of coconut climbing as a profession for earning their livelihood and will also solve the problem of scarcity of traditional climber. Key words: Coconut harvesting, Climbing devices, Safety attachment, Ergonomics INTRODUCTION
A huge number of farmer’s co-operative societies, government agencies and private partners are manufacturing and marketing a range of coconut goods including branded coconut oil in small packs. It provides medium of livelihood to the villagers and have huge export potential. Climbing on coconut trees is a tedious and hazard job; it grows to the height about 30m or above. Climbing to this palm is required not only for harvesting but also for cleaning, pollination and other research related activities. Presently, the traditional climbers are very rare. They have shifted their new generation towards other jobs. The scarcity of the climbers has emerged a great challenge in coconut growing areas. In addition to these, various other operations like cleaning the crown, pollination, insecticide application and crown management (Bankhar and Akyurt, 1995)
Major coconut growing countries are Philippines, Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka account for 78 per cent of the area and production. Coconut trees are generally grown in the tropical (hot and humid) conditions. All the parts of the coconut tree are valuable in the everyday life of human being. The major produce copra obtained by drying the kernel of coconut is the richest source of vegetable oil containing 60 to 65% oil (Gopala et al, 2010). The oil made from copra is the base for a wide range of products, from cooking oil to soap, shoe polish and several other applications. Coconuts are harvested at varying stages (6 to 10 times) in a year depending upon their consumption and commercial utility in the producing states as given in Table 1. Timely harvesting is essential for maximizing the yield. 9
Agricultural Engineering Today Table 1: Harvesting of coconut for various purposes Sl. No.
Purpose
Status
Period
1.
Drinking purpose
green coconuts or tender nuts
5 to 6 months
2.
Gelatinous kernels with water
green coconuts or tender nuts
7 months*
3.
Both kernel and water
green
8 months*
4.
coir manufacturers
Immature (green nut)
11 months
5.
Good quality copra
Matured
11 to 12 months old
State West Bengal, Assam and Orissa
southern states
* To get better volume of coconut water along with sugar and minerals.
are being neglected due to lack of climbers. Due to the risk involved, nowadays very few people are coming forward to climb on coconut trees. The lack of competition, led to existing professionals charging exorbitantly from the owners. Delay in harvesting leads to reduction in productivity. Keeping these things in mind, various climbing devices have been developed since early 1970s (Devis, 1963).
obstructs, manoeuvrability and high cost. Paddling and squatting type devices are found the short term solution to the climbing problem faced by the coconut growers. However, very limited information is available as to the capacity and ergonomics of these models Thamban et al., (2011). The problem is so complicated that Coconut Development Board (CDB) and Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) are working jointly and decided to develop a professional army of 5000 youths to take care of the declining manpower needs in plucking coconut and protection of the plants by training them and given name as Friends of Coconut. Therefore, this study was under taken to evaluate the performance of these two devices involving skilled and unskilled climbers considering ergonomic parameters in consideration and to improve popular one for adoption.
It is estimated that Kerala state has more than 150 million coconut palms, and minimum of 30,000 climbers are required. Various devices have been developed for coconut climbing. Based on the use of the power source, they can be classified in to different categories i.e. tractor operated, selfpropelled, manually operated and robotic type. The manual devises namely paddling type devise and the push up devise became popular and being used by many climbers. However, the professional climbers still refused to use these devices for various reasons. Meanwhile, research and development efforts were also made to mechanise the climbing. A tractor mounted hydraulically operated lifting device suitable for harvesting coconut and carry out crown related operations on medium tall trees (maximum height of 12 m) was developed and evaluated at Dr. B.S. Konkan Krishi Vidhya Peeth, Dapoli (Kolhe, 2010). To reach a height of 10 m it requires 38 s and another 28 s to descend. However, it could work only in plain areas where the slope is less than 20.5% (Kolhe and Jadhav, 2011). Similar, devices were tried in Saudi Arbia (Sial, 1984) and in Iraq (Shabana and Mohamad, 1983) for harvesting of date palm. They also felt the problem with these devices of low elevation height (approx. 10 m), traction, difficulty in passing through irrigation channels and other
Available climbing devices: Based on power source, coconut climbing devices were classified in five categories namely traditional, manually operated, self-propelled, tractor operated and robotic type. Manually operated and traditionally operated devices are further divided in various categories based on the application of force as listed in Table 2. Traditional climbing methods: It is the most common method of harvesting practiced by the local worker; they are highly trained and experienced naturally. Based on the movement, various traditional climbing methods can be classified in frog type, walking type, pole type and ladder type (Fig. 1) depicts frog type climbing method of Kerala (0.5 m/s), in walking type climbing method the trees were connected with multi roping system near the crown of the tree, in this case the climber does not 10
Vol. 39(4), 2015 Table 2: Classification of climbing methods Sl. No. 1.
Power source
Availability
Traditional harvesting
Frog type: Local trained people are very expert Walking type Ladder type Pole harvesting
2.
Manually operated
Squatting type; TNAU Model, KAU model Paddling type ; Chamberi/Farmers model Walking type model; CPCRI models,
3.
Self propelled
Elevator Type: Vinjex Chennai, Some imported and CIAE developed. Trunk Supported: Coconut climbing machine
4.
Tractor operated
Rotating type: Dapoli university, Vinjex Chennai, TNAU Coimbatore etc.
5.
Robotic type
Continuous movement or rolling type: CLAWAR, made at Thiruvananthapuram Step movement: Made by a retired officer Mr. Prakasan and other availables, Hong Kong’s Autonomous Tree Climbing Robot Treebot.
Frog type
Walking type
Ladder type
Pole harvesting
Fig. 1: Traditional climbing methods
need to climb on every tree but he can move from one tree to another with the help of this rope way. Traditional ladder made up of bamboo pole, steel, aluminum are used to climb the small trees or half height of the plant to save the other crops like black pepper carpers. At some places modified telescopic type ladders are also in use, pole harvesting of Karnataka which use bamboo, GI pipes, aluminum pipes and some low weight alloy pipes as pole is common in entire state. Manually operated devices: Manually operated various devices have been developed by the researcher in coconut growing areas. On the basis of basic concept these can be classified in three categories i.e. squatting type, paddling type and walking type (Fig. 2). Squatting type device is made up of upper and lower pieces. Upper piece provides
a seating arrangement for the climber and lower one is to be lifted with the toes. Upper and lower pieces are alternatively raised by the climber. These models are not getting popularity due to concept of push up heavy weight about 5 kg to be lifted by the toes continuously during climbing and coming down. Paddling type model is more common in Kerala state. This model is very easy to operate and also promoted by the Coconut Development Board (CDB). Coconut Development Board (CDB) promoting this technology by sponsoring the training programmes for the climbers and giving them other assistances. Some private industries are fabricating this device with little change in material and manufacturing technology. This device is high in demand by coconut development board (CDB) and other users. Walking Type climbing device is made up of special attachment in the shoes of the climber. 11
Agricultural Engineering Today
Squatting type
Paddling type
Walking type
Fig. 2: Manually operated climbing devices
This device is developed by Central Plantation Crop Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasaragod and still required some needful refinement.
function they can be classified in two categories such as continuous movement or rolling type: CLAWAR, made at Thiruvananthapuram and step movement made by some retired officer Mr. Prakasan and some other available, Hong Kong’s Autonomous Tree Climbing Robot Treebot, Woody Robot, and Zakarias Mathew model.
Self-propelled devices: These devices are consisting of self prime mover and plate form for climber. They can be classified in two categories elevator type and trunk supported type. Elevator Type climbing devices are fabricated by some industries like M/s Vinjex Chennai, for other purposes and can be adopted for coconut harvesting with suitable modification. These devices used either batteries or engine to move. Some self-propelled imported climbing devices also available for these purposes (Fig. 3). Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering (CIAE), Bhopal has also developed such type of device. Trunk supported type climbing devices are in the laboratory stage. These use an engine or pneumatic system as the prime mover.
The aim of present study was to assist the young boys and girls who want to adopt climbing as profession and are inexperienced and have height phobia as the peddling type devices has no safety arrangement. Keeping this in mind, Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal in collaboration with Central Plantation Crop Research Institute (CPCRI) has developed a safety attachment to paddling type climbing device to motivate the youngster towards the climbing profession. METHODOLOGY
Tractor operated climbing devices: Tractor operated climbing devices has also been developed and demonstrated by various organizations like Dapoli University, Vinjex Chennai, TNAU Coimbatore etc. Tractor operated elevators are available in various capacities (Fig. 4). They can be operated in slightly uneven farms as the tractors are designed and manufactured for these situations. Presently most of the devices are available only for 10-15 m height and operated hydraulically.
Information were collected about harvesting practices through internet, published literature, visiting various places in coconut grown areas, interviewing manufacturers, inventers and users of various devices and arranging the demonstration of traditional devices (Frog type, walking type, ladder harvesting, pole harvesting), manually operated devices (squatting, peddling, walking), self-propelled (elevator type), tractor operated devices (rotating type) in coconut growing areas of the country like Kerala, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Based on the utilization of power source the climbing devices were classified in five categories. Based on the above collected information two manually operated popular devices one peddling type and another squatting type were selected and evaluated
Robotic type climbing device: Some innovative idea and developments of technologies on Robotics tree climbers are in the process. Seeing the severity of the work Indian as well as foreign universities/ government and non government agencies are working in this direction (Fig. 5). On the basis of their 12
Vol. 39(4), 2015
Elevator type
Trunk supported device Fig. 3: Self propelled climbing devices
Fig. 4: Tractor operated climbing devices
CLAWAR,
Hong Kong’s Autonomous Tree Climbing Robot Treebot
Woody Robot
Zakarias Mathew model
Thiruvananthapuram robotic
Fig. 5: Robotic type climbing device
at ICAR - Central Plantation Crop Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasargod (Kerala) and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore for their field capacity and ergonomic consideration. Climbers having experience more than five years were called in the morning, their heartbeat was measured with stethoscope and after assuring that they are not suffering with any disease, they were allowed to climb the coconut palms. The height of palms was about 10.00 m and 17.00 m respectively at Coimbatore and Kasaragod. The time taken by the harvesters in climbing up and down, operation time was measured with the help of stop watch.
During evaluation it was found that the work output of paddling type palm climbing device was much higher and climbers are feeling lesser tediousness. Testing of available manual climbing devices was conducted on various aspects and thereafter new technology was developed. A safety attachment was provided in this device for making it safe and user friendly. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION While climbing on a tree the weight of the device is a very important factor, since the machine is to be lifted by a person along with his body weight. It is always 13
Agricultural Engineering Today necessary that the weight should be minimum for required strength of the device. The weight of squatting model (15.25 kg) is almost double that of paddling (7.87 kg). In case of former model, climber has to lift the lower part (5.10 kg) with climber toes on uneven/rough surface of plant trunk. Whenever, the lower part of the device is struck with the trunk of the plant it becomes difficult to lift. In paddling models only affordable weight is lifted by the feet and rest is taken by the hands.
of the rope is attached to the body harness borne by the climber (Fig. 7). Before use, the strength of the device was tested with universal testing machine and by hanging the load with appropriate safety factor.
Field capacity of devises:The field capacities of traditional climbing, peddling type and squatting type devices on the basis of number of trees climbed (both ascending and descending) were recorded for skilled and unskilled climber on hourly basis at Coimbatore and Kasargod. The performance of the peddling type model was comparable with squatting type climbing (Fig. 6). The result indicates that the paddling type climbing devices is more efficient and user friendly and may be a suitable replacement of traditional climbing.
Traditional
Squatting
Fig. 7: Safety attachment and its demonstration at CPCRI, Kasaragod
Peddling climbing devices
This safety attachment reduces the height fear / height phobia as confidence developed against falling down in case the climber’s foot slips from the pedal. The safety rod pushes the foot attachment due to the weight of the climber; the loop around the tree gets tightened and eliminates the risk of falling down. The arrangement locks the climbing device to the coconut tree. If the climber loses balance and begins to slip. The climber will suspend securely in the body harness in case he/she accidentally slips from the climbing device and will regain his/ her position in a few seconds without assistance of any other person. The attachment provides full safety to the climber during climbing and harvesting
Ergonomic consideration at TNAU
Fig. 6: Evaluation of Climbing methods and devices
Development of safety arrangement: The safety attachment is very simple and lightweight device made of a steel rod about 10 mm in diameter and 600 mm length. The rod is attached to the paddling arrangement of the climbing device. A hook is welded to the top of the rod for connecting the wire/lanyard to the climbing device.One loop of the rope is attached to this hookand another end 14
Vol. 39(4), 2015 operations. It leads to reduced fear and increase harvesting efficiency/capacity. The safety system can be incorporated with the coconut climbing devices with simple modification/ refinement without affecting the working of device. The cost of safety device is Rs. 800/- . and the cost of the Chemperi type climbing device is Rs. 2500/-. Just by adding Rs. 800/- for safety device, the unit becomes safe for the operator. CONCLUSIONS The study revealed that in present situation peddling type climbing device with safety attachment may be anappropriate solution for coconut climbing. The work taking place by various private, government and research organisation on self-propelled and tractor operated devices will provide a solution in recent years with better movability in the field and increase the reach up to taller trees. REFERENCES Bankhar AA; Akyurt M. 1995. A tree-climbing buggy for date palms. The fourth Saudi engineering conferenceIV: 171-7
Davis T A. 1963. Ways of climbing the coconut palm. Coconut Bulletin. June-July 17 (3-4): 82-9. Kolhe K P. 2010. Mechanized harvesting, the need of coconut growers in India. Indian Coconut Journal. 73(2): 15-19. Kolhe K P; Jadhav B B. 2011. Testing and performance evaluation of tractor mounted hydraulic elevator for mango orchard. American Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences. 4(1): 179-186. Sial F S. 1984. Mechanisation of Saudi Arabian Date Industry, Scope and Limitation. Int. Journal Development Technology. 2(1): 317-25. Shabana H R; Mohamad S. 1993. Mechanisation of date production.Proc. IstSymp. On the Date Palm, KFU, Al-Hassa. 712- 4. Thamban C; Mathew A C; Muralidharan K; Subramanian P; Singh T V; Madhavan K. 2011. Coconut climbing methods and devices: A participatory analysis of constraints and strategies. Journal of Plantation Crops. 39 (1):148-52. Gopala K A G; Gaurav Raj, Bhatnagar Ajit Singh, Prasanth Kumar P K; Chandrashekar Preeti. 2010. Coconut Oil: Chemistry, Production and Its Applications - A Review. Indian Coconut Journal, July: 15-27.
15
Agricultural Engineering Today
Modelling and Optimization of Extrusion Process Using Genetic Algorithms Kirandeep (SM-150301),1 M S Alam1 (LM-9341) and Lokesh Jain2 2
1 Department of Processing and Food Engineering, School of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141004 E-mail:
[email protected]
Manuscript received: January 16, 2015
Revised manuscript accepted: September 23, 2015
ABSTRACT Modeling and optimization of extrusion process was done with the help of genetic algorithm (GA). The response surface methodology (RSM) was used for the development of regression equations for the extrudate properties such as expansion ratio (ER), bulk density (BD), water absorption index (WAI), water solubility index (WSI), protein content (PC), crude fiber (CF), antioxidant capacity (AC), hardness (H), color change (CC) and overall acceptability (OA) with four independent variables: die temperature (0C), screw speed (rpm), corn proportion (%) and feed moisture content (%). For the optimum process conditions the equations of ER, WAI, WSI, PC, CF, AC, OA were maximized and BD, CC and H were minimized. Both individual and common optimization approaches indicated that die temperature of 1100C and corn grits: mosambi pomace-pulse powder (MPPP) ratio of 70:30 were necessary for all the extrudate properties except for color change (CC). The optimum value of feed moisture content was 12% for all the extrudate properties except for OA, CC and AC whereas, optimum value of screw speed was 300 rpm except for BD, WSI and CC. The common optimum extrusion process conditions obtained were 70% corn proportion (30% MPPP) with 16% feed moisture content, 110 °C die temperature and 300 rpm screw speed. The values predicted for common optimum conditions matched experimental extrudate properties more closely than those for individual optimum process conditions. Key words: Modeling, optimization, genetic algorithm, response surface methodology INTRODUCTION
which have more than three independent variables which have wide range (Das and Srivastav, 2013). In addition to RSM, Genetic Algorithms (GAs) are one of most promising techniques for optimization of non-linear problems (Holland, 1992). The GAs are the computer programs in which an optimization problem is specified (Das and Srivastav, 2013). The greater number of solutions can be obtained using GAs. For this problem, members of a space of candidate solutions, called individuals, are represented using abstract representations called chromosomes. The GA consists of an iterative process that evolves a working set of individuals called a population toward an objective function, or fitness function (Goldberg, 1989). In GA independent variable as a group are expressed by binary
Extrusion cooking is a short time cooking process which requires high temperature. It is used worldwide for the production of expanded snack foods, modified starches ready-to-eat cereals, baby foods, pasta and pet foods (Toft, 1979). Different process parameters, system parameters, and product properties are required for modeling of extrusion process. The food extrusion industries can benefit from the optimization of extrusion cooking process (Harper, 1981). Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is a collection of mathematical and statistical techniques useful for developing, improving and optimizing processes (Myers and Montgomery, 2002). The interpretation of RSM results become difficult when optimizing a function 16
Vol. 39(4), 2015 numbers 0 and 1.The evolutionary process of a GA is a highly simplified and stylized simulation of the biological version. The goodness of the chromosome in the population is evaluated over a fitness function, which is the objective function of the optimization problem. The stopping criterion is usually dependent on the best fitness, which does not change after certain number of iterations or time (Shankar and Bandyopadhyay, 2004).
the standard procedures. The BD of extrudates was measured using displacement method. It was calculated as the ratio of sample weight and replaced volume in the cylinder (Patil et al., 2007) and the ER was expressed as the ratio of diameter of extrudate and the diameter of die (Fan et al., 1996). Water Absorption Index (WAI) and water solubility index (WSI) was determined according to method given by Stojceska et al. (2008).
However, literature regarding the application of genetic algorithms for optimization of extrusion cooking process variables is scarce. The specific objective of the present investigation was to find the individual as well as common optimum process conditions for the all extrudate properties using GA.
WAI (g/g) = Weight gain by gel / Dry weight of extrudate ... (1)
MATERIAL AND METHODS Experimental Design: The 3-level Box-Behnken experimental design was selected for optimization of process variables i.e. die temperature, corn flour proportion, feed moisture content and screw speed using response surface methodology. The coded and actual values of the independent variables are shown in Table 1. The ingredients used for corn based product were: corn flour, mosambi pomace powder and pulse powder (MPPP) mixed in equal proportion, and 2% salt. A laboratory scale co-rotating twin-screw extruder with intermeshing (Model BC2; Clextral, Firminy Cedex, France) was used for the extrusion study. Quality attributes: The physico-chemical quality attributes i.e Bulk Density (BD), Expansion Ratio (ER), Water Absorption Index (WAI), Water Solubility Index (WSI), Protein Content (PC), Crude Fiber (CF), Antioxidant Capacity (AC), Hardness (H), Color Change (CC) and Overall Acceptability (OA) of developed extrudates was estimated using
WSI (%) = (Weight of dry solid in supernatant/ Dry weight of extrudate)*100 ... (2) The CF of extruded snacks was estimated using Fibertec (Foss instrument, Sweden) as per method of AAAC, (2000) and the crude protein was determined using macro-kjeldahl method. Conversion factor of 5.95 and 6.25 was used for extruded products. The PC was calculated as per cent nitrogen × factor (Ranganna, 2003). The AC was determined through assessment of free radical scavenging effect on 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical (De Ancos et al., 2002). The results were obtained as the percentage decrease with respect to the absorbance of a reference DPPH solution. The color of extruded samples was measured by using Color Reader CR-10 (Konica Minolta Sensing Inc.). The ‘L’, ‘a’ and ‘b’ values were recorded at D 65/10°. The color change was measured by the equation given by (Gnanasekharan et al., 1992). Color change = √ [ (L-L0) 2 + (a-a0) 2 + (b-b0) 2 ] ...(3) Where; L 0, a 0 and b 0 represent the respective readings of developed raw sample before extrusion. Textural attributes of extrudates were determined by
Table 1: Independent process variables and their levels for response surface analysis Independent variables Symbol
Levels -1
0
1
Die Temperature
X1
110
130
150
Corn: MPPP
X2
70:30
80:20
90:10
Feed moisture content
X3
12
16
20
Screw speed
X4
300
400
500
*MPPP: Mosambi pomace powder and pulse powder
17
Agricultural Engineering Today texture profile analysis (TPA) using Texture Analyzer, model TA-XT2i (Stable Micro-Systems, Surrey, England) equipped with a compression plate P75 as per method of Stojceska et al. (2008). Organoleptic quality of developed product was conducted on a 9-point hedonic scale (9-liked extremely to 1-disliked extremely) according to the method described by Amerine et al. (1965). Overall acceptability was evaluated as an average of appearance, color, taste and aroma and is expressed in percentage.
Yk = βo +
n
∑ i =1
βi xi +
n
∑
2
βii xi +
n −1
∑ ∑β i =1
i =1
n
ij
xi x j ... (4)
j = i +1
Where, βi, βii, βij are constant coefficient and xi x j are coded independent variables. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Effect of independent process variables on product responses: The BD of the extrudates varied between 0.25 and 1 g/cm3. Maximum BD (1 g/cm3) was observed for sample with 70% corn grits proportion (30% MPPP) having 20% feed moisture content and processed at 130°C die temperature and 400 rpm screw speed (Table 2). The BD of the extrudates increased with increase in feed moisture content whereas a decline in BD was
Modeling and optimization of the extrusion process: Modeling and optimization of extrusion process was done using RSM and GA. A second order regression equation of the following form was fitted to the data of all the responses:
Table 2: Experimental data for mosambi pomace and pulse incorporated corn grits extrudates Process Parameters CG: MPPP (%) 80:20 90:10 70:30 80:20 80:20 80:20 70:30 70:30 80:20 80:20 90:10 90:10 70:30 70:30 80:20 80:20 80:20 80:20 90:10 80:20 90:10 90:10 70:30 80:20 80:20 80:20 80:20
Responses
FM (%)
DT (°C)
SS (rpm)
16 16 16 12 16 20 12 16 12 16 16 16 16 20 16 20 16 20 12 12 20 16 16 20 16 16 12
110 110 110 110 110 110 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 130 150 150 150 150 150 150
300 400 400 400 500 400 400 500 500 300 500 300 400 400 400 500 400 300 400 300 400 400 400 400 300 500 400
BD (g/ cm3) 0.76 0.74 0.79 0.38 0.75 0.95 0.29 0.75 0.25 0.62 0.45 0.76 0.78 1 0.77 0.91 0.78 0.94 0.27 0.55 0.4 0.32 0.76 0.85 0.75 0.74 0.3
ER
WAI (g/g)
WSI (%)
H (N)
CC
OA (%)
PC (%)
CF (%)
AC (%)
2.88 2.8 2.53 2.64 1.84 1.53 2.43 2.21 2.81 3.33 3.35 2.07 1.9 1.44 1.87 1.50 1.9 1.43 3.02 2.65 1.48 2.97 1.90 1.53 1.95 2.27 2.37
5.3 5.32 4.37 4.92 3.26 3.08 5.33 5.85 4.85 4.72 5.70 4.59 4.27 3.20 4.17 2.94 4.27 3.30 5.47 5.03 3.24 5.31 4.14 3.22 3.93 4.66 4.98
16.08 14.4 17.9 15.75 15.85 15.65 17.6 16.4 16.9 11.7 13.7 14.22 15.46 15 15.36 14.6 15.46 13 12.66 12.89 10.12 10 13.6 12.4 11.92 13.19 13.65
114.6 72.62 84.09 88.87 112.4 169.2 80.88 82.44 78.62 72.62 67.29 85.62 106.7 90.66 105.2 113.7 106.7 115.6 70.22 81.46 98.46 67.89 78.46 106.8 110.5 101.5 86.49
33.89 34.64 35.53 37.62 33.66 40.35 41.24 38.40 35.83 36.95 30.76 32.02 36.60 39.47 37.13 38.40 36.60 38.27 39.4 40.99 37.53 34.28 36.95 35.83 33.93 32.37 36.49
66.6 66.66 50 44.44 27.77 33.33 33.33 33.33 44.44 72.22 72.22 44.44 31.11 31.11 32.22 22.22 31.11 33.33 55.55 33.33 33.33 62.22 33.33 33.33 33.33 55.55 44.44
12 10.25 14.00 11.65 11.76 11.55 13.85 13.40 11.15 9.89 9.82 13.50 11.50 13.00 11.60 11.00 11.50 11.20 10.02 11.72 9.95 9.88 12.85 10.60 11.10 10.50 10.70
1.764 0.99 2.20 1.75 1.76 1.75 2.10 2.01 1.65 0.94 0.93 1.94 1.64 1.92 1.63 1.66 1.64 1.62 0.97 1.64 0.96 0.93 1.90 1.59 1.59 1.59 1.60
29.2 26.00 35.20 27.40 27.90 29.00 30.20 30.90 25.00 23.20 22.90 31.10 27.00 31.20 26.20 26.80 27.00 27.00 22.80 24.40 23.20 21.10 29.00 27.00 26.00 25.20 24.40
Note: CG= Corn Grits Proportion, MPPP= Mosambi Pomace and Pulse Powder, FM= Feed Moisture, DT= Die Temperature, SS= Screw Speed, BD= Bulk Density, ER= Expansion Ratio, WAI= Water Absorption Index, WSI= Water Solubility Index, H= Hardness, CC= Color Change, OA= Overall Acceptability, PC= Protein Content, CF= Crude Fiber and AC= Antioxidant Capacity.
18
Vol. 39(4), 2015 observed with increase in the corn grits proportion (Table 3). The high dependence of BD on feed moisture would reflect its influence on elasticity characteristics of starch based material (Pan et al., 1998). The BD values decreased when the extrusion temperature and screw speed increased due to starch gelatinization (Altan et al., 2008). The experimental values of ER varied from 1.436 to 3.352. The highest ER was 3.352 for sample with 90% corn grits proportion (10% MPPP) having 16 % feed moisture content and processed at 130°C die temperature and 500 rpm screw (Table 2). The effect of feed moisture content, die temperature and screw speed was found to be negative on ER whereas corn grits proportion had the positive effect (Table 3). Feed moisture has been found to be the main factor affecting extrudates expansion which is consistent with our results. Decrease in the ER of the extrudates at higher extruder temperatures can be attributed to increase dextrinization and weakening of structure (Mendonca et al., 2000). WAI measures the water holding by the starch after swelling in excess water. WAI values of the extrudates ranged from 2.947 to 5.855 g/g. The
highest WAI (5.855) was observed for sample with 70% corn grits proportion (30% MPPP) having 16% feed moisture content and processed at 130°C die temperature and 500 rpm screw speed and lowest (2.947) was for sample having 80% corn grits proportion (20% MPPP) with 20% feed moisture content and processed at 130°C die temperature and 500 rpm screw speed (Table 2). Die temperature, screw speed and corn grits proportion had positive effect on WAI of extrudates whereas feed moisture content had significant (p≤0.05) negative effect (Table 3). The decrease in WAI with increase in moisture can be easily explained by the fact that with the subsequent increase in moisture, tendency to absorb water decreases. WSI values varied from 10 to 17.9. Maximum WSI (17.9) was observed for sample with 70% corn grits proportion (30% MPPP) having 16% feed moisture content and processed at 110°C die temperature and 400 rpm screw speed (Table 2). The WSI values of the extrudates showed decreasing trend with increase in corn grits proportion, die temperature and feed moisture content whereas an increasing trend was observed with increase in screw speed (Table 3).
Table 3: Effect of extrusion process parameters on selected responses for mosambi and Pulse incorporated corn grits based extruded product Coefficients
B.D
E.R
WAI
WSI
PC
CF
CC
H
AC
OA
DT
(-)*
(-)
(+)
(-)**
(-)**
(-)**
(-)
(-)
(-)**
(-)
CG
(-)**
(+)**
(+)
(-)**
(-)**
(-)**
(-)*
(-)
(-)**
(+)**
FM
(+)**
(-)**
(-)**
(-)*
(-)*
(-)
(-)
(+)**
(-)**
(-)**
SS
(-)
(-)
(+)
(+)**
(-)*
(+)
(-)
(-)
(-)**
(-)
DT*CG
(-)*
(+)
(+)
(-)
(+)*
(+)**
(-)
(+)
(+)
(+)
DT*FM
(-)
(+)
(+)
(-)
(+)
(+)
(-)
(-)*
(+)
(+)
DT*SS
(-)
(+)*
(+)*
(+)
(-)
(+)
(-)
(-)
(+)
(+)**
CG*FM
(-)**
(-)
(-)
(+)
(+)*
(+)*
(-)
(+)
(-)
(-)
CG*SS
(-)
(-)
(-)
(-)
(+)
(-)
(-)**
(-)
(-)
(+)
FM*SS
(+)
(-)
(-)
(-)
(+)
(+)
(-)
(+)
(-)
(-)
DT
(-)
(+)
(+)
(-)
(-)
(+)*
(-)*
(+)
(+)
(+)*
CG2
(-)**
(+)**
(+)*
(-)
(+)**
(-)
(-)
(-)**
(+)
(+)**
FM
(-)**
(-)
(-)
(-)
(-)*
(+)
(+)**
(+)
(-)
(-)
SS2
(+)
(+)*
(+)
(-)
(-)
(-)
(-)
(-)
(-)
(+)*
2
2
Note: ** Significant at 1% ; * Significant at 5% ; DT= Die Temperature, CG= Corn Grits Proportion, FM= Feed Moisture Content and SS= Screw Speed, +/- sign in the parenthesis shows positive/negative effect
19
Agricultural Engineering Today Higher moisture content in extrusion process can diminish protein denaturation which subsequently lowers WSI values. Badrie and Mellowes. (1991) reported similar findings. The increase in WSI with increasing screw speed was significant with results reported for corn meal by Jin et al. (1995).
the concentration of mosambi pomace powder which is the main source of antioxidants in our extrudates decreased. According to Emir et al. (2006) an increase in screw speed results in greater mechanical energy input to the system and shearing effect is increased. The presence of a greater amount of moisture in the sample would lead to a gentler processing in the extruder barrel.
The value of CF of the extrudates varied between 0.932 to 2.205%. Maximum value of CF (2.205%) was observed for sample having 70% corn grits proportion (30% MPPP) with 16% feed moisture content and processed at 110°C die temperature and 400 rpm screw speed. The CF content of extrudates decreased with increase in corn grits proportion, die temperature and feed moisture content whereas an increasing trend was observed with increase in screw speed (Table 3). The significant (p≤0.05) decrease in CF with increase in corn grits proportion may be due to the fact that as the corn grits proportion increases, the proportion of mosambi pomace decreases which is main source of fiber in our snacks. The PC of the extrudates varied from 9.82% to14%. The maximum PC (14%) was observed for sample having 70% corn grits proportion (30% MPPP) with 16% feed moisture content and processed at 110°C die temperature and 400 rpm screw speed (Table 2). It is clear from table 3 that all the process parameters had significant (p≤0.05) negative effect on PC of the extrudates. The PC of extrudates decreased significantly with increase in corn grits proportion because it decreased the proportion of pulse powder which is the main source of protein in our extrudates. The decrease in PC with increase in die temperature was may be due to protein denaturation during extrusion. According to Stojceska et al. (2008) lowering of proteins seems to be result of a combination of shearing, heat and pressure during extrusion. The AC values varied from 21.1 to 35.2%. Maximum value (35.2%) was observed for sample with 70% corn grits proportion (30% MPPP) having 16% feed moisture content and processed at 110°C die temperature and 400 rpm screw speed (Table 2). The AC values of the extrudates showed decreasing trend with increase in die temperature, screw speed and corn grits proportion and increased with increase in feed moisture content (Table 3). Decrease in AC is due to the fact that antioxidants are heat sensitive and also increase in corn grits proportion decreased the antioxidants because
The CC of the extrudates varied from 30.76 to 41.24. The minimum CC (30.76) was observed for sample having 90% corn grits proportion (10% MPPP) with 16% feed moisture content and processed at 130°C die temperature and 500 rpm screw speed (Table 2). The CC showed decreasing trend with increase in corn grits proportion, die temperature, screw speed and feed moisture content (Table 3). The hardness of corn based snacks varied in the range of 67.29 to 169.29 N. The minimum hardness (67.29 N) was observed for sample with 90% corn grits proportion (10% MPPP) having 16% feed moisture content and processed at 130°C die temperature and 500 rpm screw speed (Table 2). All the process parameters had negative correlation with hardness except for the feed moisture content which had positive correlation (Table 3). The increase in hardness with increase in moisture content is due to the fact that water act as a plasticizer to the starch based material reducing its viscosity and the mechanical energy dissipation in the extruder and thus the product becomes dense and bubble growth gets compressed. It is expected that increasing temperature as well as screw speed would decrease the melt viscosity, which favours the bubble growth and produce low density products with small and thin cells, thus increasing the crispness of the extrudates (Ding et al., 2006). The OA of extrudates varied from 22.22 to 72.22 %. Maximum OA was observed for sample with 90% corn grits proportion (10% MPPP) having 16% feed moisture content and processed at 130oC die temperature and 500 rpm screw speed (Table 2). The OA of the extrudates showed decreasing trend with increase in feed moisture content, screw speed and die temperature. The decrease in OA with increase in feed moisture content is due to the fact that with increase in feed moisture content hardness also increases. It is clear from Table 3 that the effect of corn grits proportion and feed moisture content on OA of the extrudates was significant (p≤0.05) 20
Vol. 39(4), 2015 Optimization and modeling using genetic algorithms (GA): The program developed for optimization was written in C language, with a user friendly environment given by the Turbo C++ platform. The objective function used to evaluate the fitness values of each individual extrudate property were based on the second-order polynomial regression equations obtained using RSM as given below: Bulk Density (x1) = -20.10 + (0.047 * DT) +(0.34 * CP) + (0.57 * FM) - (0.000038 * SS) – (0.00049 * DT* CP) – (0.00006 * DT* FM) - (0.0000006 * DT* SS) - (0.0036 * CP* FM) – (0.00004 * CP* SS) + ( 0.0002 * FM* SS) - (0.00004 * DT2 ) –(0.0013 * CP2 ) – (0.009 *FM2 )+ (0.00000022 * SS2) Hardness (x2) = -1790.25 + (0.76 * DT) + (41.09 * CP) + (15.91 * FM)+(0.43 * SS)+ (0.0011 * DT* CP) - (0.18 * DT* FM) - (0.00085 * DT* SS) + ( 0.115 * CP* FM) - (0.0005 * CP* SS) + (0.0006 * FM * SS) + (0.008 * DT2 ) – (0.3 * CP2 )+ (0.10 * FM2 ) – (0.0004 * SS2) Expansion ratio (x3) = 57.05 - (0.29 * DT) – (0.76 * CP) + (0.29 * FM) – (0.04 * SS)+ (0.001 * DT* CP) + ( 0.0008 * DT* FM) + ( 0.0002 * DT* SS) - (0.003 * CP* FM) - (3*10-5 * CP* SS) - (5.3*10-5 * FM* SS) + (0.0004 * DT2) + (0.005 * CP2) - (0.008 * FM2) + (3.0*10-5 * SS2) Water absorption Index (x4) = 59.76 - (0.16 * DT) - (0.93* CP) + (0.55* FM) - (0.054 * SS) + (0.0003 * DT* CP) + (0.0002 * DT* FM) + (0.0003 * DT* SS) (0.0006 * CP* FM) - (6.8*10-5 * CP* SS) - (0.00011 * FM* SS) + ( 6.4*10-6 * DT2) + ( 0.006 * CP2) – (0.023 * FM2) +( 2.09*10-5 * SS2) Water solubility index (x5) = -68.28 + (0.25 * DT)+ (1.32 * CP) + (1.97* FM) + (0.05 * SS) -(0.0001 * DT* CP) – (0.0035 * DT* FM) + (0.00018 * DT* SS) + (0.0004 * CP* FM) – (4.5*10-5 * CP* SS) - (0.0015 * FM* SS) - (0.0013 * DT2) - (0.009 * CP2) - (0.035 * FM2) - (5.3*10-5 * SS2) Protein content (x6) = 53.74 + (0.0093 * DT) – (0.86 * CP) - (0.12 * FM) + (0.009 * SS)+ (0.0009 * DT* CP) - (8.6*10-18 * DT* FM) – (4.5*10-5 * DT* SS)+ (0.009 * CP* FM) + (7.5*10-6 * CP* SS) + ( 0.0002 * FM* SS) – (0.0003 * DT2)+ ( 0.003 * CP2) - (0.012* FM2) - (1.17*10-5 * SS2)
Crude fiber (x7) = 1.62 - (0.053 * DT)+ (0.16 * CP) - (0.12 * FM) + (0.0017 * SS)+ (0.0003 * DT* CP) + (3.1*10-5 * DT* FM) + (2.5*10-5 * DT* SS) + (0.0011 * CP* FM) - (1.8*10-5 * CP* SS) + (1.18*10-5 * FM* SS) + (9.25*10-5 * DT2) - (0.0016* CP2) + (0.0008 * FM2) – (3.8*10-7 * SS2) Antioxidant capacity (x8) = 144.98 - (0.75 * DT)(1.55 * CP) + (1.14 * FM) + (0.021 * SS) + (0.0016 * DT* CP) + (0.0031 * DT* FM) + (6.25*10-5 * DT* SS) – (0.0037 * CP* FM) - (2.5*10-5 * CP* SS) - (0.0005 * FM* SS) + (0.0017 * DT2)+ (0.006 * CP2) – (0.026 * FM2) - (2.7*10-5 * SS2) Overall acceptability (x9) = 1663.33 - (10.16* DT) - (21.5 * CP) + (23.56 * FM) - (1.6 * SS) + (0.0152 * DT* CP) + (7.9*10-19 * DT* FM)+ (0.008 * DT* SS) (0.12 * CP* FM) + (0.003* CP* SS) - (0.014 * FM * SS) + (0.022 * DT2)+ (0.134* CP2) – (0.29 * FM2) + (0.0007 * SS2) Color change (x10) = -153.40 + (1.48 * DT)+ (1.85 * CP) - (5.52 * FM) + (0.35 * SS) -(0.0022 * DT* CP) (0.011 * DT* FM) - (0.0002 * DT* SS) - (0.0006 * CP* FM) - (0.003 * CP* SS) + (0.003 * FM* SS) - (0.004 * DT2) -(0.0023 * CP2) +( 0.17 * FM2) – (0.00017* SS2) Common optimum conditions were optimized by maximizing the following objective function: f(x) = (1/x1) + (1/ x2) + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 + x8 + x9 + (1/ x10) ... (5) Where x1, x2….. x10 denoting BD, H, ER, WAI, WSI, PC, C F, AC, OA and CC are the corresponding regression equations of extrudate properties. When the above equation 5 was used to generate combined maximum value of the function f(x), the program yielded the desired common optimum process conditions. The predicted extruded properties of all the selected responses under common process conditions were recorded in data file generated by the program. The common optimum extrusion process conditions obtained were 70% corn proportion (30% MPPP) with 16% feed moisture content, 110 °C die temperature and 300 rpm screw speed. The individual and common optimum process conditions obtained by using GA are given in Table 4. The values of the responses obtained under individual and common optimum extrusion process conditions are shown in Table 5. The individual and common optimum 21
Agricultural Engineering Today Table 4: Individual and common optimum process conditions for mosambi pomace and pulse incorporated corn grits based extruded product using GA Dependent Variables
Independent Variables Die Temperature (°C)
Corn proportion (%)
Feed moisture (%)
Screw speed (rpm)
BD (g/cm3)
110
70
12
500
H (N)
110
70
12
300
ER
110
70
12
300
WAI (g/g)
110
70
12
300
WSI (%)
110
70
12
500
P C (%)
110
70
12
300
C F (%)
110
70
12
300
A C (%)
110
70
20
300
OA(%)
110
70
16
300
CC
110
90
16
500
Common Optimum
110
70
16
300
Table 5: Experimental values of responses for individual and common optimum process conditions for mosambi pomace and pulse incorporated corn grits based extruded product Individual
Common
S.D (%)
BD (g/cm3)
0.25
0.76
0.36
H (N)
72.43
90.26
12.60
ER
2.13
3.10
0.68
WAI (g/g)
5.13
5.49
0.25
WSI (%)
17.90
16.40
1.06
PC (%)
14.00
14.00
0.07
CF (%)
2.21
2.15
0.04
AC (%)
35.20
34.14
0.75
OA (%)
38.97
71.22
22.80
CC
40.00
31.20
6.22
process conditions obtained using RSM and GA, was precisely pinpointed and varied within the experimental limits. The individual and common optimum process conditions obtained by using GA were within the extrusion process experimental range. Both individual and common optimization approaches indicated that die temperature of 1100C and corn proportion of 70% (30% MPPP) were necessary for all the extrudate properties except for CC for which optimum value of corn proportion was found to be 90%. The optimum value of feed 22
moisture content was obtained at about 12% except for OA, CC and AC. For OA and CC optimum value of feed moisture was 16% whereas for AC it was found to be 20%. The optimum value screw speed was found to be 300 rpm except for BD, WSI and CC, for which optimization was achieved at screw speed of 500 rpm. All the extrudate properties obtained under individual and optimum process conditions were comparable except for H, OA and CC showing higher values of standard deviation (S.D %).
Vol. 39(4), 2015 CONCLUSION Modelling and optimization of extrusion process done with the help of genetic algorithm (GA) indicated that the individual and common optimum process conditions obtained using RSM and GA, was precisely pinpointed and varied within the experimental limits and within the extrusion process experimental range. Both individual and common optimization approaches indicated that die temperature of 1100C and corn proportion of 70% (30% MPPP) were necessary for all the extrudate properties except for CC for which optimum value of corn proportion was found to be 90%. The optimum value of feed moisture content was obtained at about 12% except for OA, CC and AC. For OA and CC optimum value of feed moisture was 16% whereas for AC it was found to be 20%. The optimum value screw speed was found to be 300 rpm except for BD, WSI and CC, for which optimization was achieved at screw speed of 500 rpm. All the extrudate properties obtained under individual and optimum process conditions were comparable except for H, OA and CC showing higher values of standard deviation (S.D %). REFERENCES AACC. 2000. American Association of Cereal Chemists Approved Methods 10 th edition Ed by the American Association of Cereal Chemists. Minneapolis, MN, USA. Altan A; McCarthy K L; Maskan M. 2008. Evaluation of snack food from barley-tomato blends by extrusion processing. J Food Eng 84: 231- 242. Amerine M A; Panngborn R M; Roessler E B. 1965. Principles of Sensory Evaluation of Food. Academic Press, London. Badrie N; Mellowes W A. 1991. Texture and microstructure of cassava flour extrudates. J Food Sci 56: 1319-64. Das B A; Srivastav P P. 2013. Non-expanded rice based snack: Effect of processing variables on characteristics and optimization of extrusion process using genetic algorithm. Asian J Sci and Technol 4: 71-79. De Ancos B; Sgroppo S; Plaza, L; Cano M P. 2002. Possible nutritional and health-related value promotion in orange juice preserved by highpressure treatment. J Sci Food and Agri 82: 790–796. Ding Q B; Ainsworth P; Tucker G; Marson H. 2006. The effect of extrusion conditions on the physicochemical properties and sensory
characteristics of rice based expanded snacks. J Food Engg 66: 283-89. Emir A; Emine N H; Ainsworth P; Ibanoglu S. 2006. Effect of extrusion process on the antioxidant activity and total phenolics in a nutritious snack food. Int J Food Sci and Technol 41: 289–293. Fan J; Mitchell J R; Blanshard J M V. 1996. The effect of sugar on the extrusion of maize grits. I. The role of the glass transition in determining product density and shape. Int J Food Sci and Technol 31(1) 55-65. Gnanasekharam V; Shewfelt R L; Chinnan M S. 1992 Detection of colour changes in green vegetables. J Food Sci 57: 149-54. Goldberg D E. 1989. Genetic Algorithms in Search, Optimization and Machine Learning. Pearson Education, Singapore. Harper J M. 1981. Extrusion of foods. Vol I, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, UST. Holland J H. 1992. Genetic algorithms. Sci Am, July: 66-72. Jin Z; Hsieh F; Huff H E. 1995. Extrusion of corn meal with soy fiber, salt, and sugar. Cereal Chem 71 (3): 227–234. Mendonca S; Grossmann M V E; Verhe R. 2000. Corn bran as a fibre source in expanded snacks. LebWiss Unt- Technol 33: 2–8. Myers R; Montgomery D C. 2002. Response Surface Methodology: Process and Productoptimization using designed experiments. Pp 1-6. John Wiley and Sons Inc, New York. Pan Z; Zhang S; Jane J.1998. Effect of extrusion variables and chemicals on theproperties of starch based binders and processing conditions. Cereal Chem 75: 541-46. Patil R T; Berrios J A G; Swansons B G. 2007. Evaluation of methods for expansion properties of legume extrudates. Applied Engg Agric 23: 777-83. Ranganna S. 2003. Handbook of analysis and quality control for fruits and vegetable products, Tata Mc Graw Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi. Shankar T J; Bandyopadhyay S. 2004. Optimization of extrusion process variables using a genetic algorithm. Food Bio Process 82(2): 143-150. Stojceska V; Ainsworth P; Plunkett A; Ibanoglu E; Ibanoglu S. 2008. Cauliflower by-products as a new source of dietary fiber, antioxidants and proteins in cereal based ready-to-eat expanded snacks. J Food Eng 87: 554-563. Toft G. 1979. Snack Foods: Continuous processing Techniques. Cereal Foods World 24: 142-143.
23
Agricultural Engineering Today
Studies on Effect of Storage Environment on Quality of Paddy S P Divekar,1 P K Sharma1 (LM-8014), D V K Samuel1 and S K Jha2 2
1 Agricultural Engineering Division Food Science and Post Harvest Technology Division Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi E-mail:
[email protected]
Manuscript received: January 9, 2015
Revised manuscript accepted: September 29, 2015
ABSTRACT India’s food grain production was 257.13 MT in the year 2012-13. In which Rice production was 105.24 MT. India’s share in World rice production was 23.07%. To solve the problem of storage loss, a study was conducted on flexible hermetic storage system with an objective to find the effect of different packaging material on quality of paddy grain. The moisture migration to and from the grain was not prevented by jute bag, HDPE woven lined and unlined bags. This affected the quality parameters of paddy. The PP bags could arrest the moisture transmission up to some extent which helped in restoring quality parameters of paddy. The lower oxygen content and higher carbon dioxide content in the package could retain the paddy quality. The super grain bag arrested both moisture migration and gas transmission to and from the grain which in turn retained grain quality better than the other packages. The O2 content was decreased from 20.80 to 4.20% and the CO2 increased from 0.38 to 13. 43%. The M.C. changed from 12.44 to 13.81% (w.b.). Key words: Storage environment, Hermetic storage, Quality of paddy, jute bag, super grain bag, HDPE, PP. INTRODUCTION
available for human consumption and enhance global food security. A reduction in food loss also improves food security by increasing the real income for all the consumers (Anonymous, 2011). Increasing agricultural productivity is critical for ensuring global food security, but this may not be sufficient. Food production is currently being challenged by limited land, water and increased weather variability due to climate change. To sustainably achieve the goals of food security, food availability needs to be also increased through reductions in the postharvest losses at farm, retail and consumer levels (Anonymous, 2013). The rice productivity in India has been increased from 1984 kg/ha in 2004-05 to 2372 kg/ha in year 2011-12 (Anonymous, 2012). India succeeds in record production of food grain. Out of these grain 70 percent are stored at farmers field/house.
India’s food grain production was 257.13 MT in the year 2012-13. In which Rice production was 105.24 MT (Anonymous, 2013). India’s share in World rice production was 23.07%. India is the second largest producer of paddy in the World after China. Current world population is expected to reach 10.5 billion by 2050, further adding to global food security concerns. This increase translates into 33% more human mouths to feed, with the greatest demand growth in the poor communities of the world. Food supplies would need to increase by 60% (estimated at 2005 food production levels) in order to meet the food demand in 2050 (Alexandratos and Bruinsma, 2012). Food availability and accessibility can be increased by increasing production, improving distribution, and reducing the losses. Thus, reduction of post-harvest food losses is a critical component for ensuring future global food security. Reduction in these losses would increase the amount of food
To solve the problem of storage loss, a study was conducted on flexible hermetic storage system with 24
Vol. 39(4), 2015 an objective to find the effect of different packaging material on quality of paddy grain. Lack of storage facility, high relative humidity and temperature during the storage period are the most important factors which contribute to higher respiration of the grain and the development of insect, leading to losses that can reach 10 to 15% of the total production of grain. Most of the time the grains are either stored in jute bag/woven bags or bins. The main characteristic of the jute bags and Woven bags is its ability to allow passing the moisture and air through the netted structure to and from the local environment around the bag.
drum was well sealed from all the sides except from the top to pour the desired material. The drum was well washed and kept under sun to get it dry properly for couple of days and disinfected by Deltamethrin (DTM, 2.5 wdp). The paddy grain was poured in the drum and the phosphine tablets were placed in the paddy so that it will be exactly at the centre of the drum. At a time two tablets were placed in such a way that it divides vertically the drum area into three equal parts and the drum was sealed properly from all the sides for a period of 7 days (Anonymous, 2012). Thereafter the fumigated grain was poured into the pre-disinfected 5 different types of bags (Fig. 1). Polypropylene (PP) and Super grain bags were sealed properly with the help of hand sealing machine. As other bags could not be sealed, they were stitched with the help of sewing machine. The storage room was properly cleaned and disinfected with the help of Deltamethrin (2.5 wdp) and the room was kept closed for a period of 10 days. After application of Deltamethrin, the bags were stacked on the three UV stabilized HDPE pallets (Make: Pilco Storage system Pvt. Ltd., capacity: 4 ton Size: 1200 mmx1200 mmx150 mm).
MATERIALS AND METHODS Material used were, paddy grain, packaging materials, phosphine, sealing machine (Make: Sevena model No.QS200HB), sewing machine (Make: Revo bag closer machine, Model No. DanDA), pallets, grain sampler, X-ray analyzer (Faxitron X-Ray), moisture boxes, O2/CO2 collectors, O2/CO2 gas analyzer (Make: PBI Dansensor Model No.: Checkmate 9900), moisture meter (Make; Indosaw Model No. 6003), electronic balance, dehusker (Make: Indosaw), polisher (Make: Indosaw), polyethylene bags, syringe, silicon septum, etc. To find the effect of varieties on storability of paddy, Pusa Sugandh 5 (Fine grain) was chosen for the study. Paddy (900 kg) was collected from the Pusa sales counter of Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. The initial moisture content of the paddy was determined before it was taken to the fumigation. It was observed that, the initial moisture content of the paddy was below 13 percent (w.b.). After this the paddy was taken for fumigation. The fumigation was planned to ensure insect free grains at the onset of packaging. A MS drum (height: 1500 mm diameter: 600 mm) was selected for fumigation purpose. The
(a)
(b)
The staking was done in such a way that there will be twelve layers of bags. Each layer accommodates 10 bags on each pallet. A proper randomizations was done while arranging the bags in layers to accommodate all the treatments in each layer. In this way three stakes were prepared. Each stack acted as a replication. So there were three replications of all treatments. At the onset of staking observations viz. initial moisture content (% w.b.), oxygen and carbon dioxide content (both in %), live and dead insect count (numbers) were taken and milling quality was determined. The water vapour transmission rate (WVTR) and gas transmission rate (GTR) were determined by using ASTM
(c)
(d)
(e)
Fig. 1: Different types of bags: (a) Jute bag, (b) HDPE woven lined bag, (c) HDPE woven un-lined bag, (d) Polypropylene bag, (e) Super grain bag
25
Agricultural Engineering Today standard, ASTM D-1249 at 38 ±1 oC and 90±2 % RH. Oxygen Transmission Test was carried out by using ASTM D-1434 at 23 oC and 1 atm pressure. The environmental condition was 27 ±1 oC and 65±2 % RH. The Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide percentage was measured with the help of O2/CO2 analyzer (Make: PBI Dansensor Model No.: Checkmate 9900). The moisture content was measured with the help of universal moisture meter (Make; Indosaw Model No. 6003). The standard procedure of moisture measurement was followed to measure moisture with the help of Universal Moisture Meter. The insect count was done manually. The different treatments have been given i.e. Jute bag (P1); HDPE Woven lined bag (P2); HDPE Woven unlined bag (P3); Poly Propylene bag (P4); and super grain bag (P5).
of rough rice. About 100 to 125g paddy samples was used for determinations of milling recovery. Paddy samples were dehulled with a Indosaw laboratory Sheller. The sample was poured into the hopper. The output of the sheller was passed twice through the rollers to get effective shelling. The resulting brown rice was weighed. The brown rice was passed through polisher for 30 seconds. The milled rice sample was collected in a poly propylene bag of 200gauge thickness. The bag was self-sealing type which sealed properly immediately after receiving milled rice in it. The rice is allowed to cool before weighing. The weight of the total milled rice is recorded. While calculating head rice, the rice with length equal to full grain length or more than ¾th of the full length grain was considered as head rice. Then the HRR in percentage was calculated with the help of following formula. (Cruz and Khush, 2000)
Grain sampling for moisture measurement: The grain sample was collected from each package with the help of grain sampler. The sampler is inserted into the grain bag by puncturing the bag. The sampler is then moved backward and forward couple of times. Every time the above operation is repeated, sample boxes were kept immediate under the other end of the sampler. The grain sample gets dropped into these boxes at the time of every backward and forward movement of the sampler. In this way the required amount of grains get drawn into these boxes.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The storage environment includes gas composition around the grain. The O2 concentration affects respiration of the grain and insect population. The CO2 directly controls the growth of the insects. The CO2 replaces phosphine to control the insect growth. Fig. 2 shows the effect of jute bag on parameters like O2, CO2 and moisture content which in turn affects quality parameter of fine paddy. The oxygen content decreased from 20.40 to 17.40%, whereas the carbon dioxide content increased from 0.37 to 3.40%. The moisture content remained in the range of 12.55 to 16.20% (w.b.). The moisture content of the grain was above safe level of storage moisture (13% w.b.) (Laca et al, 2006). The variation in O2 content was minimal during the storage period. It was much above than the critical level of O2 (3 to 5 percent) (Chiappini et al, 2009). The variation in CO2 was also minimal. This gives clear idea that the major changes occur in the grain were due to increase in moisture content. Kibar et al., 2010, Jayas and Ghosh, 2006 and Trigo and Pedersen, 1994 also reported the same. The insect population increased with increase in moisture content but with a time lag of couple of months. The head rice recovery (HRR) changed in proportion with the change in moisture content and insect population.
Insect count: A sample of 500g grain from each package was drawn in the same manner and at a same time along with sample for moisture content but collected in double layer self-sealable polyethylene pouches. This extra sample is used for other observations like insect counts, percent cracked grains, etc. The insect count was done manually. To count insects, 125 g grains were used. In this 125 g grains, the number of live and dead insects were counted. The insects found were grain moth (Sitotroga), Rice weevil and lesser grain borer. Rice milling: The milling quality of rice may be defined as the ability of rice grain to stand milling and polishing without undue breakage so as to yield the greatest amount of total recovery and the highest proportion of head rice to brokens. Milling yield of rough rice is the estimate of the quantity of head rice and total milled rice that can be produced from a unit 26
Vol. 39(4), 2015 As insect population increased the HRR decreased. The weight loss of paddy increased with increase in moisture content till the 9 months of storage, thereafter started decreasing. Fig. 3 shows the effect of HDPE Woven lined bags on parameters like O2,
CO2 and moisture content. The gas O2 decreased from 20.40 % to 17% during the storage period of 12 months. The CO2 content increased from 0.37 to 3.40% and the moisture content increased from 12.45 to 17.69% (w.b.).
Fig. 2: Effect of oxygen, carbon dioxide and moisture content on HRR of fine paddy stored in jute bag
Fig. 3: Effect of oxygen, carbon dioxide and moisture content on HRR of fine paddy stored in HDPE lined bag
27
Agricultural Engineering Today The value of O2 and CO2 content was not significant to affect paddy’s quality parameters. The moisture content change was huge to affect the paddy (Chiappini et al, 2009). The effect of moisture content was prominent on head rice yield. The head rice yield changed with change in moisture content. The insect count increased with increase in moisture content but with a time lag of couple of months. There was direct relation of head rice yield, moisture content and insect population. The effect of insect population on HRR was such that as insect population increased the HRR decreased. The percentage weight loss of paddy increased with increase in moisture content. Similar results have been reported by Phillip and Meronuck, 2000. Fig. 4 shows the effects of HDPE woven unlined bags on parameters like O2, CO2 and moisture content. The oxygen content decreased from 20.87% to 18.23%. The CO2 content increased from 0.37 to 3.07%. The moisture content increased from 12.63 to 17.41% (w.b.). Here also the change in moisture content was significant.
effect of PP bag on parameters like O2, CO2 and moisture content. Here oxygen content and carbon dioxide showed significant difference compared to M.C. The O2 decreased from 20.57% to 9.42% and the CO2 increased from 0.38 to 6.03%, whereas M.C. changed from 12.34 to 14.14% (w.b.). The M.C. was just above the safe storage M.C. (Laca et al., 2006). As there was prominent change on O2 and CO2 content and the smallest change in M.C., the grain parameters got affected by the presence of O2 and CO2 content. CO2 has been used as a viable alternative to phosphine for the control of insect pests of the stored products. The O2 content was above critical level of 3 to 5% (Chiappini et al, 2009). The HRR and insect population has inverse relation. As the insect population increased the HRR decreased. The direct impact of O2 and CO2 was on presence of insects in the grains which in turn affected other parameters like HRR and percent weight loss. Here insect population decreased from 4 to 1 which contributed to increase in HRR and reduction in percent weight loss up to 4.4% as a whole. Fig. 6 shows the effect of super grain bag on parameters like O 2, CO 2 and moisture content. The super grain bag affected the availability of O2 and CO2. The O2 decreased from 20.80 to 4.20% and the CO2 increased from 0.38 to 13. 43%. The M.C. changed from 12.44 to 13.81% (w.b.). Super grain bag’s permeability for O2 and CO2 was low which
The HRR and MC have direct relation. There was direct relation of head rice yield, moisture content and insect population. As the insect population increased the HRR decreased. The percentage weight loss increased with increase in moisture content. It was inversely proportional to M.C. The Insect numbers changed directly in proportion to the M.C. change (Hall, 1980). Fig. 5 shows the
Fig. 4: Effect of oxygen, carbon dioxide and moisture content on HRR of fine paddy stored in HDPE un-lined bag
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Vol. 39(4), 2015
Fig. 5: Effect of oxygen, carbon dioxide and moisture content on HRR of fine paddy stored in PP bag
Fig. 6: Effect of oxygen, carbon dioxide and moisture content on HRR of fine paddy stored in super grain bag
prevented the availability of O2 to either grain or insects. The figures indicated that O2 and CO2 had major role in deciding quality parameters of paddy. The HRR and weight loss depends on the insect population. Here the insect population decreased to zero. The insect population started decreasing after 3rd months
of storage and rested on zero after 6 months of storage. The values of O2 and CO2 were 6.14% and 4% respectively. It shows that the insect population started seizing below 6.14% O2 and above 4% CO2 (Chiappini et al., 2009). The percentage weight loss decreased as the storage period progressed. The variation in values of HRR was minimal in this package compared to the paddy samples from 29
Agricultural Engineering Today other packages and the value of HRR was higher compared to the paddy stored in other packages.
Tenebrionidae) in controlled atmospheres at different oxygen percentages. Journal of Stored Products Research, 45: 10–13.
CONCLUSIONS
Cruz N D ; Khush G S. 2000. Rice Grain Quality Evaluation Procedures. In R.K. Singh, U.S. Singh and G.S. Khush (eds.), Aromatic Rice (PP. 24-30). Oxford & IBH publishing company pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.
The moisture migration to and from the grain is not prevented by jute bag, HDPE woven lined and unlined bags. This affected the quality parameters of paddy. The PP bags could arrest the moisture transmission up to some extent which helps in restoring quality parameters of paddy. The lower oxygen content and higher carbon dioxide content in the package could retain the paddy quality. The super grain bag arrested both moisture migration and gas transmission to and from the grain which in turn retained grain quality better than the other packages.
Hall D W. 1980. Factors affecting food value and deterioration. Handling and storage of Food Grains in tropical and subtropical areas. Oxford & IBH publishing company pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 38-65. Phillip H; Meronuck R. 2000. Stored Grain Losses Due to Insects and Molds and the Importance of Proper Grain Management. ctechcorporation.com/ pdf/grainlos.pdf., (4): 29-31. Kibar H ; Ozturk T ; Esen B. 2010. The effect of moisture content on physical and mechanical properties of rice (Oryza sativa L.). Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research, 8(3): 741-749.
REFERENCES Alexandratos N; Bruinsma J. 2012, World agriculture towards 2030/2050: the 2012 revision. Agricultural Development Economics Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ESA Working Paper No. 12-03. Anonymous. 2011. World Bank report. library. worldbank.org/doi/pdf/10.1596/978-0-8213-88280. (doi 26.12.2011). Anonymous. 2012. www.agricoop.nic.in_imagedefault_ trade_Riceprofile.pdf. (doi 21.12.2012). Anonymous 2013. www.icar.org.in/en/node/7665. (doi 18.03.2013). Chiappini E ; Molinari P; Cravedi P. 2009. Mortality of Tribolium confusum J. du Val (Coleoptera:
Laca, A ; Mousia Z; Diaz M; Webb C; Pandiella, S S. 2006. Distribution of microbial contamination within cereal grains. Journal of Food Engineering, 72 (4): 332-338. Jayas D S; Ghosh P K. 2006. Preserving quality during grain drying and techniques for measuring grain quality. 9th International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection, 969-980. Trigo D M; Pendersen G R. 1994. Effect of rice storage conditions on the quality of milled rice. 6th International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection, Vol (2); 706-711.
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Vol. 39(4), 2015
Impact of Climate Change on Sugarcane and its Mitigation Ashok Kumar Shrivastava, Vinay Kumar Singh, T K Srivastava, Vinod Kumar, S P Shukla and Varucha Misra ICAR-Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow, U.P., India E-mail:
[email protected] Manuscript received: July 9, 2015
Revised manuscript accepted: October 3, 2015
ABSTRACT A sugarcane crop stands in the field for over twelve months, experiencing vagaries of all the weather conditions. During this long period, climatic variables significantly influence all the growth stages as well as cause some of the abiotic and biotic stresses impinging on this crop which ultimately affects its yield, juice quality as well as the availability of the seed cane for planting. Uniquely, sugarcane is endowed with a “compensatory physiologic continuum” contributed by its tillers, two types of roots emerging at different times, development of leaves spaced temporally apart and ratooning ability which help this crop to thrive under various stress conditions, varying levels fertility and spacing and may help, to some extent, mitigating the effect of changing climate. It has been predicted that changing climate will decrease sugarcane productivity. Organic residue management, minimum tillage, balanced fertilization, use of biofuels may reduce emissions of GHGs are important in mitigating the effect of climate change on this crop. For taking care of CO2 emissions, in sugarcane plant, C is occluded in silica forming phytoliths. Besides amendment of organic manure (especially press mud @ 10t/ha) in the soil also increases carbon sequestration. Development of sugarcane varieties responsive to high CO2 concentration, N use efficient, tolerant to biotic and multiple abiotic stresses by incorporating bio-technologic approaches in breeding programmes may tide over changing climatic scenario, in times to come. Key words: Climate change, growth stages, mitigation, sugarcane, weather parameters INTRODUCTION Global climate change, i.e., change in the long-term weather patterns, has been considered as a future threat for food security of the World, including India. Climate change, closely associated with global warming, is due to natural processes or external forces, or persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or land use pattern. It includes significant changes in temperatures, precipitation, solar radiation and Green House Gases (GHGs). The latter includes CO2, CH4 and N 2O and emission of a number of man-made greenhouse gases, such as the halocarbons, chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br) containing substances, sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), etc. (http://www. ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tar/wg1/518.htm, 27.07.2015).
Over the period of 1880-2012, global mean surface
temperatures have increased by 0.85oC per 100 years and it is likely to increase further by 1.5–2oC at the end of the 21st century (IPCC, 2013). The concentration of other GHGs in the troposphere have also increased like atmospheric CO2 (from 280 ppm to 395 ppm), CH4 (from 715 ppb to 1882 ppb) and N2O (from 227 ppb to 323 ppb) from the year 1750 to 2012 (Mahato, 2014), the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of these gases has been related to be 1, 25 and 310, CO2, CH4 and N2O, respectively. By and large, agriculture depends upon the weather and climate (Assad et al., 2004). The climatic change including changes in temperatures, rainfall and solar radiation patterns, etc, significantly affect 31
Agricultural Engineering Today EFFECT OF CLIMATIC VARIABLES ON SUGARCANE CULTIVATION
agriculture. Emission of green house gases (GHG) leads to global warming and CO2 is one of the most important amongst these. Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii has estimated that the present level of CO2 in the atmosphere is 401.3 ppm and it is increasing at the rate of 2 ppm per year. The upper safety limit for CO2 in the atmosphere is 350 ppm which was reached during early 1988 (CO2now. org/, 22.08.2015). Increasing CO2 levels have both detrimental and beneficial effects, on crop yields. Impact of climate change has been perceived as decrease in agricultural productivity, rise in food prices, reduced income of the consumers and ultimately affecting socio-economic conditions (Kumar and Sharma, 2014). A shift in weather conditions due to climate change has reduced the growing period of rice and sugarcane crops in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh (Kumar et al., 2011). Sugarcane is grown in the world from latitude 30° North to 30° South of the equator and thrives equally well both in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Nearly six million farmers grow sugarcane and also a large number of agricultural labourer are engaged in cane cultivation. Also, more than half a million people, either skilled or semi-skilled workers are engaged in sugar mills and many more in transport, input supply, maintenance of machinery, etc. Sugarcane is a C4 plant species where CO2 fixation increases with increase in temperature from 8 to 34°C (Gawander, 2007; Sage and Kubien, 2007).
In general, agricultural production activities of all the sectors are the most sensitive and vulnerable to climate change (IPCC 1990, IPCC 2005). IPCC (2007) reports that the climate change is real and it is still progressing day-to-day. It is expected that climate change will lead to more extreme events for rainfall patterns and temperature patterns (Nelson et al., 2010). The changes in temperature, rainfall and solar radiation patterns due to climate change will affect the sugarcane production in both positive and negative ways. Temperature influences cane development right from beginning and continues up to later phases of growth. It is directly linked with bud development, growth of plant, photosynthesis as well as other biochemical processes. Photosynthetic efficiency of sugarcane increases linearly with temperature in the range of 8°C to 34°C. Cool nights and early morning temperatures of 14°C in winter and 20°C in summer inhibit photosynthesis. The leaf growth is constrained at temperatures less than 14oC to 19°C. Cool night temperatures and bright sunny days slow down growth rates as well as carbon assimilation, but photosynthesis, per se, continues (Gawander, 2007). The nature and relationship of sugarcane yield and climatic variables at different growth phases are given below: Germination phase: In sugarcane, germination is activation and subsequent sprouting of the bud which commences from 7 to 10 days and usually lasts for about 30-35 days. Optimum temperature for sugarcane germination is 32° to 38°C. We observe slow or even no germination when temperatures fall below 21°C (Binbol et al., 2006). The germination of bud is influenced by the external (soil moisture, soil temperature and aeration) as well as internal factors (bud health, sett moisture, reducing sugar and nutrient status). A warm and moist soil ensures rapid germination. High temperatures negatively affect sprouting of buds as well as and emergence of shoot (Rasheed et al., 2011). Poor emergence of shoots results in low plant population. Higher temperatures of above 32°C leads to higher number of shorter internodes, high fibre and lower sucrose contents (Bonnett et al., 2006). With an increase in afternoon humidity, cane yields increased (Samui et al., 2013). In north-east Andhra Pradesh, Rupa Kumar
Sugarcane, having wider adaptability grows well under temperatures ranging between 20-40°C, longer period of bright sun shine hours (12 to 14 h), high humidity (>70%) and high rainfall (up to 1500 mm). Long duration of bright sunshine hours, warm season with optimum rainfall and high humidity during growing phase favour its rapid growth and yield. The sugarcane crop is unique in the sense that during its growth it experiences all the variability’s of weather conditions that prevail during winters, summers as well as rainy seasons. This crop is also endowed with a “compensatory physiologic continuum” imparted by its two types of roots, tillering and development of leaves spaced temporally, and thus provides it ability to withstand various types of abiotic and biotic stresses, varying planting densities and fertility levels, etc. (Shrivastava et al., 2009). 32
Vol. 39(4), 2015 (1984) observed that temperatures (maximum and minimum both) and relative humidity during the first three months at the formative phase profoundly influenced cane yield. Varying base temperatures for shoot emergence (12°C, c.f. Inman –Bamber ,1991) and tillering (16°C, Inman-Bamber, 1991, 1994) have been recorded. Tillering or establishment phase: Like in many other graminaceous plants, in sugarcane also mode of branching is called tillering. The latter starts from around 45 days after planting and lasts up to 120 days. It is influenced by variety, fertilizer application, irrigation (to alter soil moisture), light intensity and ambient temperatures. For tillering, adequate light must reach the base of the sugarcane plant. A temperature around 30oC is optimum for tillering but below 20oC retards it. Barnes (c.f. Inman-Bamber, 1991) had reported that the base temperature for shoot emergence to be 12oC, however, InmanBamber (1991) had reported a higher value of 16oC as based temperature for shoot emergence. Early formed tillers form relatively thicker and heavier millable canes but the late formed ones are either destined to die or remain short or immature and do not contribute to the millable harvest. Tillering and grand growth phases, where most of the biomass is produced, are critical for water deficit (Inman-Bamber and Smith, 2005, Ramesh and Mahadevaswamy, 2000). Distribution of rainfall is important but its excess hampers the rate of sugarcane growth and more so, when drainage is impeded (Shrivastava and Srivastava, 2006). The exposure of the sugarcane plants to wind at this stage increases root development as compared to plants kept under a shelter (Lakshmikanthan, 1983). Grand growth or boom phase: Grand growth (or boom phase), the phase of maximum development, is characterized by increase in stem size, weight and high leaf production. It starts typically 4 months after planting and lasts until the 7th month, a total period of about 120 days. During the early part of this phase, tiller mortality occurs. Only 35-50% of the total tillers produced survive to make millable canes. Under favourable conditions, only 4-5 internodes are produced per month. Mean evaporation at this stage shows a significantly positive correlation with final sugarcane yield (Binbol et al., 2006). At grand growth phase, rate of evapo-transpiration is very high which
indicates that some of the assimilates produced are used in growth processes for building up of new tissues (Bonnett, 2014). Moisture stress reduces internodal length. Temperatures around 30oC, and relative humidity of around 80 % is conducive to growth. During the grand growth phase, rainfall is conducive to rapid cane growth, its elongation as well as internodes formation. Leaf area index increases rapidly during 3 to 5 months with peak values attained during early grand growth phase in tropical India (Ramanujam and Venkataramana, 1999) and somewhat before the end of grand growth phase in subtropical India (Shrivastava et al., 1985). Some of the physiological processes like photosynthesis, partitioning of assimilates, stomatal conductance and respiration decrease with decrease in water availability (Gardener et al., 1984). Later on this was also supported by Gawander (2007). Temperatures below 25oC or above 35oC retard sugarcane growth but the growth may cease below 10oC or above 38oC (Alfonsi et al., 1987, Shrivasatava and Srivastava, 2006). During sprouting and growth period, the plant needs to absorb high amounts of water, consuming from 69 to 168 liters to yield 1 kilogram of sugarcane (Casagrande and Vasconcelos, 2008). For ripening, a temperature below 20°C slows down growth rates but promotes sucrose accumulation in millable canes (Scarpari and Beauclair, 2004, 2009). Maturity phase: Maturity phase is also called sucrose build-up stage. In a twelve-months crop, it lasts for about three months starting from 270 and lasting up to 360 days (or more). This phase is characterised by a reduced vegetative growth, rapid sugar synthesis and its accumulation. In the maturation stage, the plant needs a dry and cold climate to accumulate the sugar/sucrose in the stalks (Rudorff and Batista, 1988, Santos et al., 2007). Ample sunshine, clear skies, cool nights and more diurnal variation in temperature (warm days) and dry weather are highly conducive for ripening. Most of the climatic variables correlate positively with growth and yield, but the correlation coefficients were nonsignificant (Binbol et al., 2006). In an irrigated crop of sugarcane, advent of low temperatures, promote natural ripening (Donaldson, 2009, Singels et al., 2005). Cardozo (2012) noted an inverse relationship between air temperatures (average of 120-150 days before harvest) and maturity. 33
Agricultural Engineering Today Ripening: Meteorological variables influence the productivity and quality of sugarcane (Keating et al., 1999). Lower temperatures associated with moderate water deficits and nitrogen deficiency is conducive to ripening (Shrivastava and Solomon, 2009). During ripening, sucrose levels in stalks gradually increase but the percentage of glucose and fructose decrease. In most of the humid tropical and subtropical regions, with approach of harvest, the dry season as well as low temperatures slow down the sugarcane growth and convert reducing sugars into sucrose. Cardozo (2012) suggested that climatic variables may have significant relationship with ripening and should be analyzed considering long periods of time preceding harvest (120 to 150 days) as their impact on the plants’ metabolism may take some time. Poor natural ripening conditions like low as well as high temperatures and excess rainfall/soil moisture exist in most of the sugarcane growing areas of the world, and about 85-90% of the world’s sugarcane is harvested under these conditions. Under such conditions, agronomic and genetic means of improving sugarcane quality continue to be limiting. Management techniques like withholding irrigation, application of certain growth regulating compounds (ripeners) and inter-generic hybridization have been utilized to ameliorate ripening behaviour and to improve cane quality (Shrivastava et al., 2002, Shrivastava and Solomon, 2009).
encourages vegetative growth and formation of water shoots (Clowes and Breakwell, 1998). The sugarcane must be processed within 72 hours after the manual harvest and 14 hours after being harvested by mechanical harvesters (Oliveira, 2014). Sucrose levels were invariably higher in areas with more intense solar radiation. In areas located between 18°N and 18°S maximum values of sucrose accumulation was more due to day length (photoperiod) over the critical period for ripening than to the air temperatures (Shrivastava and Solomon, 2009). Glasziou et al. (c.f. Shrivastava and Solomon, 2009) observed that lower air temperatures were conducive to high sugar content but when the air temperatures was nearly constant, exhibiting little variation, sugar concentration did not exceed 12% of the fresh weight. Reduction in air temperature decreases the acid invertase activity in stalks as a result sucrose content of the stalks is increased (Ebrahim et al., 1998). At Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow, it has been observed that RH during 2-3 weeks and temperature 4-6 weeks prior to harvest influence juice quality (Shrivastava, 2006). Flowering: Flowering in sugarcane negatively affects cane yield as well as juice quality (Berding and Hurney, 2005). Clowes and Breakwell (1998) revealed that high temperatures, especially at night enhance flowering. Flowering affects growth of leaves and internodes and as a result cane and sucrose yields are reduced. Gawander (2007) observed that lower temperatures during winter are important for natural ripening of sugarcane in Fiji. Mali et al. (2014) revealed that uneven distribution of rainfall during monsoon followed by variations in RH result in flowering in certain varieties of sugarcane.
Juice quality: Experience in sugarcane indicates that when the growth is regular and normal, accumulation of sugar is invariably higher. In sugarcane stalks, juice quality varies with age of the crop, and after attaining an optimum it declines. At higher temperatures inversion of sucrose into fructose and glucose moieties may occur besides enhancement of respiration leading to relatively lesser accumulation of sugars. The environmental conditions influence the activity of invertase enzyme, which influence ripening and growth processes (Lingle and Irvine, 1994, Shrivastava and Solomon, 2009). Temperatures lower than 0oC cause freezing of less protected parts such as young leaves and lateral buds; and the damage is commensurate with the length of the cold period. Frost also leads to poor juice quality. During ripening period, cloudy and/or high rainfall leads to poor juice quality,
EFFECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON BIOTIC FACTORS Altering temperatures due to climate change affects some of the biotic factors like incidence of insect pests, diseases and weeds (Neumeister, 2010). Smut initiation and spread is higher at ambient temperatures of 25°C-30°C. Likewise, the spread of red rot disease is also high at higher temperatures (37°C-40°C) provided all other conditions remain same. Incidence of rust disease increases with reduction in minimum temperatures. Mathieson 34
Vol. 39(4), 2015 (2007) reported that the incidence of smut may increase at higher temperatures. The prolific dry weather exacerbates the symptoms of Ratoon Stunting Disease (RSD). The latter and the smut reduced cane yield in the south Eastern Zimbabwe (Clowes and Breakwell, 1998). Mathieson (2007) reported that temperature changes are likely to introduce new pests and diseases in sugarcane growing areas. Shoot-fly incidence is high in summer when the air temperatures are very high. Higher shoot fly incidence was observed when the range of temperature is lower. Stresses leading to other abiotic and biotic stresses: A particular impinging stress damages crop plants not only by its direct effect but also by its indirect effect by accentuating other abiotic and biotic stresses. A common widely experienced stress is waterlogging which leads to development of salinity. Due to the hazards of canal irrigation and the resultant waterlogging, large tracts of land are turning into usar (barren) and saline and causing loss of productivity of crop plants including sugarcane (Banerjee, 2003). Waterlogging in sugarcane also leads to nutrient imbalance (Shrivastava and Srivastava, 2006). Waterlogging predisposes canes to water transmissible diseases, viz., red-rot (Srivastava et al., 1988) and enhanced wilt syndrome (Agnihotri, 1990). Pineapple disease was also aggravated in ill drained soils (Agnihotri, 1990). Ratooning in waterlogged conditions is prone to fungal attack causing stubble rot and affects productivity of ratoon crop and shows deficiency of several nutrients (Singh et al., 2001). It also accentuates population of white fly in ratoon crops especially in N deficient soils (Kalra, 1983). In waterlogged conditions, infestation by scale insect and Gurdaspur borer increases (Singh, 1990). Cut worm caused serious damage to sugarcane in Godavari delta after floods in 1983 and 1986 (Prasada Rao, 1989). Waterlogging may deprive sugarcane root system of oxygen, which will facilitate formation of toxic compounds and as a result inhibit nutrient uptake (Glover et al., 2008). Drought also causes salt-induced problems. In Australia, four years of less than average rainfall in Harwood mill area has caused salinity problems and reduced sugarcane yields (Anonymous, 1995). It also affects the pest and disease complex. Heavy
build up of termites, shoot borer, pyrilla, mealy bugs, white flies, scale insects, mites, etc., are associated with dry conditions. Among diseases, smut and leaf scald are aggravated (Hapse, 1986). In 2002 drought year, infestation of woolly aphids was accentuated in many parts of India. Prolonged drought in acid soils, supplied with higher N favoured wilt development (Agnihotri, 1990). Drought also accentuated the damage due to pineapple disease and leaf scald (Agnihotri, 1990). At high temperatures incidence of smut disease increased (Mathieson, 2007). Termite and nematode populations also increase in response to climate change- induced warm and dry conditions (Clowes and Breakwell, 1998). Genes of some weeds, pathogens and insect pests are altered in response of precipitation which makes them difficult to control (Harmon et al., 2009). Under saline conditions, incidence of shoot borer (C. infuscatellus) was higher in sodic (34.7%) as compared to normal soils (20.6%) (Misra and Sardana, 1996). In British Guyana, a nutritional disorder- salt blight was observed in which plants contained more of Cl- (c.f. Shrivastava and Srivastava, 2006). In Punjab, boron (B) toxicity is a problem in about 90% of the salt affected soils (Singh et al., 1995). Sub-optimal temperatures (< 0o C) reduce the hydraulic conductivity of the soil and frost heaves are formed in the soil, its degree depends on soil texture and moisture (Edwards and Cresser, 1992). These may result into water stress. Local high solute concentrations may arise from the exclusion of ions from the active freezing centers or as a consequence of water migration from unfrozen soil to the freezing point. It may create a partial or localized salt stress. Low temperatures also lead to banded chlorosis. Low temperature and high humidity are conducive to prolific multiplication of stem borer. High temperatures aggravate the drought effects and favour multiplication of stem borer, C. infuscatellus Snellen, A. strcticraspis and root borer, E. depressella (Shrivastava and Srivastava, 2006). Soil compaction, especially in the surface layer, depressed uptake of micronutrients (Rao et al., 1987) and increased the incidence of early shoot borer (C. infuscatellus Snellen) (Rao, 1987). Nutrient deficiency, especially N, aggravated white fly infestation (Shrivastava and Srivastava, 2006). 35
Agricultural Engineering Today By and large, abiotic and biotic stresses which are aggravated by certain abiotic stresses in sugarcane crop are mentioned in Table 1.
harvest may increase sugarcane residues and improve soil health and sustain its fertility (De Figueiredo and La Scala, 2011). Minimizing soil tillage may help to reduce mineralization of soil organic matter and aids soil carbon sequestration. As the land preparation operation in sugarcane use large quantity of fossil fuel, adopting minimum tillage operation may mitigate climate change to some extent. Sugarcane-based co-generation and second generation alcohol production may mitigate climate change to some extent by partially fulfilling the fuel demands.
MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION STRATEGIES OF SUGARCANE TO CLIMATE CHANGE Mitigation is an intervention to reduce the pace of climate change as well as to overcome its detrimental effects, either by developing climate resilient sugarcane varieties or certain technological interventions for drought and flood, high CO2 concentration responsive, high water and nutrient use efficient, aiding carbon sequestration through high biomass, rhizo-deposition, resistance to pests and diseases, etc. Success in this direction may also be achieved through use of biotechnology. Avoiding pre-harvest burning and using trash as a mulch will overcome gaseous pollution, conserves water, organic matter, nutrients and to some extent checks soil erosion. GHGs emissions could be achieved by residue recycling, green cane harvesting, mulching, soil and water conservation, improving the fertilizer use efficiency, etc. Among these, organic manuring, application of bio-agents, and crop residue incorporation are time-tested ones. A shift from pre-harvest burning to green
Carbon sequestration: Carbon sequestration is one of the ways for taking care of CO2 emissions. Wikipedia has defined it as a long-term storage of CO2 (or any other form of C) to either mitigate or put off or postpone global warming to avoid its deleterious effects on biological system (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_sequestration, 21.08.2015). The organic carbon is occluded with silica in phytolith. This is also named as PhytOC. Like many other grasses, in sugarcane also a unique sequestration process, making of plantstone or phytolith, occurs which plays an important role in reducing CO2 emissions vis-a-vis global
Table 1: Effect of primary impinging abiotic stress on aggravation of other abiotic/biotic Stresses affecting sugarcane productivity Primary impinging stress
Aggravated abiotic stress
Aggravated biotic stress
Waterlogging
Salinity, alkalinity, acidity, Fe toxicity, nutrient imbalance and deficiency of N, K
Diseases like red rot, wilt syndrome, Pineapple disease and insect pests like white fly (in ratoon), scale insect, Gurdaspur borer and cut worm
Drought
Salinity
Diseases like wilt, smut, leaf scald and insect pests like termites, shoot borer, pyrilla, mealy bugs, white flies, scale insect, mites, etc.
Low temperature
Reduced hydraulic conductivity leads to water stress; frost heaves formation, localised partial salt stress and banded chlorosis
Stem borer (in southern Peninsular zone)
High temperature
Drought effects
Stem and root borers
Salinity
Salt blight and boron toxicity
Shoot borer (C. infuscatellus)
Nutritional deficiency (of N)
-
White fly
Soil compaction
-
Early shoot borer
Source: Shrivastava and Srivastava (2006)
36
Vol. 39(4), 2015 warming. Parr and Sullivan (2005) have estimated the PhytOC yield of sugarcane crop as 18.1 g C m-2 year-1. This amounts to 181 kg C sequestered/ ha/year. Parr and Sullivan (2007) have estimated that this process extracts around 300 Mt of CO2 / year from atmosphere and store it in the soil for thousands of years.
tropical climatic conditions. Climatic changes as well as pre-harvest burning in sugarcane crop lead to multiple abiotic stresses which reduce productivity as well as juice quality of sugarcane. The changes in temperature, rainfall and bright sun shine patterns due to climate change affect the sugarcane production in both positive and negative ways. Studies reveal that climatic deviations like extreme high and low temperatures, uneven distribution of rainfall during monsoon followed by variations in relative humidity, bright sun shine hours result in impaired juice quality. Climate change- induced abiotic and biotic stresses lower the productivity of sugarcane and flowering in certain varieties of sugarcane. Sugarcane is endowed with a unique “compensatory physiologic continuum” and carbon sequestration process, i.e., making of phytolith. Both these manifestations take care of the climate change –induced multiple abiotic stresses and GHGs, especially CO2 to some extent. Climate resilient technology for sugarcane may be developed like tolerant varieties for abiotic and biotic stresses, high input responsive, and avoiding pre-harvest burning of sugarcane, etc. Adopting suitable technologies to reduce the GHG emissions and minimizing soil tillage to reduce fuel demand and addition of organic matter in the soil will aid carbon sequestration in the soil and improving SOC which will improve soil health and sustain soil productivity under climate change scenario for times to come.
I n sugar cane pro d u ction syste m, c a rb o n sequestration is also achieved through amendment of organic matter in the field. Suman et al. (2009) have observed that in sub-tropical India, gross input of carbon by a sugarcane crop is in the range of 11.7–12.4 t ha-1 y-1 in different organic manure treatments as compared to 8.4 and 5.0 t ha-1 y-1 in NPK and control treatments, respectively. Another assessment of the effect of organic manures on carbon sequestration and soil health under sugarcane plant -ratoon system, involving a plant crop and ten consecutive ratoons crops, indicated that the maximum carbon sequestration and improvement in SOC was observed when sulphitation press mud (@10 t/ha) was used (1.26 t/ha/yr) as compared to 0.57 t/ha/yr in NPK (150:60:60kg/ha N:P:K) treatment and 0.31t/ha/yr in control (Table 2). It may be mentioned that inclusion of organic manures, besides sequestering C, also improved soil health. CONCLUSION Sugarcane is a C4 crop grown in tropical and sub
Table 2: Effect of organic manures on soil bulk density and carbon sequestration in sugarcane plant-ratoon system (Long term experiment (during 2003-2014) Treatment
BD* (Mg/m3)
SOC (t/ha)
SOC change (t/ha)
C# sequestration (t/ha/year)
Initial level
1.4
13.44
-
-
Control
1.39
16.80
3.36
0.31
NPK 150,60, 60 kg/ha
1.39
19.74
6.30
0.57
Vermi-compost 10 t/ha
1.24
25.20
11.76
1.07
Farmyard manure 10 t/ha
1.24
25.20
11.76
1.07
Biogas slurry 10 t/ha
1.24
25.20
11.76
1.07
Sulphitation press mud 10 t/ha
1.23
27.30
13.86
1.26
For top 15 cm soil layer # In a Root zone depth of 45 cm Nb. Organic manures added @ 10t/ha at the start of the every crop season (Courtesy: Dr. T.K. Srivastava, Head, Crop Production, IISR, Lucknow) *
37
Agricultural Engineering Today REFERENCES Agnihotri V P. 1990. Diseases of Sugarcane and Sugarbeet, Oxford & IBH Publishing Co., Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, pp. 483. Alfonsi R R; Pedro M J Jr; Brunini O; Barbieri V. 1987. Condições climáticas para a canade-açúcar. In: Paranhos, S.B. Cana-de-açúcar: cultivo e utilização. Campinas: Fundação Cargill, 1 (135): 42-82. Anonymous. 1995. Drought causes salt problems. BSES Bull No. 50 (April issue): 23. Assad E D; Pinto H S; Zullo Junior J; Ávila A M H. 2004. Impacto das mudanças climáticas no zoneamento agroclimático do café no Brasil. Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira, 39:1057-1064. Banerjee T. 2003. Waterlogging, salinity take toll on crop production. Hindustan Times (Lucknow), August 9, pp. 2. Berding N; Hurney A P. 2005. Flowering and lodging, physiological-based traits affecting cane and sugar yield: what do we know of their control mechanisms and how do we manage them? Field Crops Research, 92: 261–275. Binbol N L; Adebayo A A; Kwon-Ndung E H. 2006. Influence of climatic factors on the growth and yield of sugarcane at Numan, Nigeria. Climate Research, 32: 247–252. Bonnett G D. 2014. Developmental Stages (Phenology) in Sugarcane Physiology, Biochemistry & Functional Biology (Moore P H ; Botha F C), pp. 35-54. Bonnett G D; Hewitt M L; Glassop D. 2006. Effects of high temperature on the growth and composition of sugarcane internodes. Australian J. Agric. Res., 57: 1087-1095. Cardozo N P. 2012. Modeling sugarcane ripening as function of meteorological variables (in Portuguese). Available at: [Acessed July 07, 2012] Casagrande A A; Vasconcelos A C M. 2008. Fisiologia da parte aérea. In: Cana-de-Açúcar (Dinardo Miranda, L.L., Vasconcelos, A.C.M. and M.G.A. Landell, eds.) Campinas: InstitutoAgronômico, pp. 57-78. Clowes M J; Breakwell W L. 1998. Zimbabwe Sugarcane Production Manual. Zimbabwe Sugar Association, Chiredzi, Zimbabwe. pp. 283.
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Ramanujam T; Venkataramana S. 1999. Radiation interception and utilization at different growth stages of sugarcane and their influence on yield. Indian J. Pl. Physiol., 4 :85–89.
Shrivastava A K; Srivastava M K. 2006. Abiotic Stresses Affecting Sugarcane: Sustaining Productivity, International Book Distributing Company, Lucknow, India. pp. 322.
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Shrivastva A K. 2006. Sugarcane at a Glance, IBDC, Lucknow Publishers, Pp. 193. Singels A; Donaldson R A; Smit M A. 2005. Improving biomass production and partitioning in sugarcane: theory and practice. Field Crops Research, 92: 291–303.
Rupa Kumar K. 1984. Yield response of sugarcane to weather variations in Northeast Andhra Pradesh, India. Archives for Meteorology, Geophysics and Bio Climatology, pp 265-276.
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Shrivastava A K.; Shahi H N; Agnihotri V P. 2002. Ripening of Sugarcane and its Management for
40
Vol. 39(4), 2015
Testing, Demonstration and Capacity Building Activities with Support from DOAC Schemes (2007-12) Vijay Kumar N. Kale1 (LM - 10074) and Anjani Kumar Nathani2 1
Department of Agriculture and Co-operation, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi 2 Principal, M. I. T. Muzaffarpur E-mail:
[email protected]
Manuscript received: July 17, 2015
Revised manuscript accepted: October 5, 2015
ABSTRACT With increasing agricultural labour Shortage in India, a shift to mechanization is a logical response. Not only does mechanization support the optimal utilization of resources (e.g., land labour, water) and expensive farm inputs, it also helps farmers to save valuable time. Judicious use of time, labour and resources helps facilitate sustainable intensification (multicropping) and timely planting of crops, which can give crops more time to mature leading to increase in productivity. The use of appropriate machinery also helps reduce drudgery. But, in spite of government’s effort on making some useful farm machines available to farmers on subsidy, the objective of scientific cultivation by mechanization is being defeated due to farmers’ poor socio-economic condition, lack of proper knowledge of farm machines and improved farm practices both. Obviously, there is immediate need of intensive training to farmers for bridging the knowledge gap and further development of module ensuring availability of most useful quality farm machines even to the poorest farmer and others with small land holdings. Key words: Testing, Demonstration, Capacity Building, farm mechanization, agricultural machinery INTRODUCTION With increasing agricultural labour Shortage in India, a shift to mechanization is a logical response. Not only does mechanization support the optimal utilization of resources (e.g., land labour, water) and expensive farm inputs, it also helps farmers to save valuable time. Judicious use of time, labour and resources helps facilitate sustainable intensification (multi-cropping) and timely planting of crops, which can give crops more time to mature leading to increase in productivity. The use of appropriate machinery also helps reduce drudgery. But, in spite of government’s effort on making some useful farm machines available to farmers on subsidy, the objective of scientific cultivation by mechanization is being defeated due to farmers’ poor socio-economic condition, lack of proper knowledge of farm machines and improved farm practices both. Obviously, there is immediate need of intensive training to farmers for bridging the
knowledge gap and further development of module ensuring availability of most useful machines even to the poorest farmer and others with small land holdings. The farm machine bank can serve both the purposes of knowledge generation and ensuring the availability of useful machines to the people attached with the bank due to shared ownership irrespective of their financial and social status (Chandra and Prasad, 2014; 2014a). The use of most versatile and popular agricultural machines by the farmers of the locality on custom hiring basis may also generate sufficient fund to the banks. It is a well known fact that agriculture mechanization has played a very significant role in overall improvement of agriculture scenario in India, during the post Independence period particularly after the seventies. Mechanization has not only reduced the duration of agriculture operations but considerably contributed towards the overall production pattern in the country through conservation of inputs, reduction 41
Agricultural Engineering Today of drudgery and improvement of the overall efficiency in production process. There has been significant increase in adoption of agriculture machines over a period of time. The increased use of farm machines has found phenomenal expansion of cropped area and cropping intensity and country’s agricultural production on all fronts. The shift has also helped in diversification of agriculture from conventional crops to commercial crops. The programmes of farm mechanization has resulted in adoption of farm machinery such as tractors, power tillers, combine harvesters, irrigation equipment, plants protection equipment, threshers, improved implements and hand tools.
Garladinne, Anantpur), Haryana (NRFMTTI, Hissar) and Assam (NERFMTTI, Biswanath Chariali). These institutions train farmers, trainers, officials of State Governments and entrepreneurs/ manufacturers in the field of agriculture mechanization through their structured training programmes. These institutions play a lead role in development of human resources for agriculture mechanization and effect improvements in the quality of agricultural equipment through assigned mandate of Performance Testing and Evaluation. The training program designed by the institutions can be broadly categorized as User Level Courses, Technician Level Courses, Management Level Courses, Academic Level Training Programmes, Awareness Courses through Multi Media System, Technology Transfer Camps, Training Programmes for Rural Youth Under Swarna Jayanti Grama Swarojgar Yojana, Need Based Training Program on Farm Mechanization, Training Program for Foreign Nationals and Special Training courses. To enlarge the coverage of farmers and rural youth and supplement the efforts of FMTTIs, the training programmes were also arranged through certain indentified institutions such as State Agriculture Universities (SAUs), Agriculture Engineering Colleges/ Polytechnics and ICAR institutions such as Central Institute of Agriculture Engineering (CIAE) located at Bhopal. The duration of training programmes range from one week to a month and organized for a batch size of 20 to 25 farmers (Anonymous, 2014).
While the progressive Indian farmers supported by agricultural machinery and tractor manufactures played key role in the growth of agricultural mechanization, an equally important contribution to this growth was made by Central and State Governments and various organizations under their fold through a large number of programmes to facilitate transformation of Indian agriculture. The Central Tractor Organization, Training and Testing Institutions, State Agro Industries Corporations, Agricultural Universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) through its research institutions contributed their share to the development and progressive acceptance of agricultural mechanization in India. The Scheme for Promotion of Agriculture Mechanization and Strengthening through Training, Testing and Demonstration has been implemented in the country across 27 states/UTs (Anonymous, 2014). The schemes has been implemented with the help of Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institutes which are located in four states viz., Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Assam, State Directorate of Agriculture and Government sponsored institutes (ICAR and SFCI) and State Agricultural Universities.
Demonstration of agricultural machinery:
The demonstration component, largely focusing on dissemination of technology for popularization and adoption by the farmers at the field level, positively impacts the efficiency and reduces wastage/ input costs. Under this component equipment developed for crop production, value addition and horticulture related activities were demonstrated with the objective of educating farmers with their utility and adoption. Funds were provided by the Ministry of Agriculture to the State Governments and Government Organizations such as ICAR, SFCI etc (Table 1).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Training and testing: Four Farm Mechanization
Training and Testing Institutions (FMTTI) have been set up to cater to the need of Training and Testing of Agriculture equipment and Machineries. These institutions are located in Madhya Pradesh (CRFMTTI, Budni), Andhra Pradesh (SRFMTTI,
Types of data used for the study: Both primary and secondary data have been analyzed in the study. Primary data were collected from the project beneficiaries and implementers of the scheme 42
43
0.00
West Bengal
129914
23445.6
0.00
1675.00
273.00
1100.00
513.6
958.35
22.00
250.00
342.01
0.00
1514.49
200.00
135.00
400.5
238.3
1740.00
1725.00
0.00
150.00
1014.31
47.00
1092.74
264.19
0.00
1246.97
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
450
3376.14
0.00
352
4365.00
0.00
5624.4
0.00
0.00
221.45
131.75
21.25
226.95
123.0
157.68
204.01
0.00
340.0
152.87
277.35
94.63
403.63
619.76
45.69
0.00
0.00
449.44
19.84
533.75
655.75
321.6
102.0
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
290.49
59.51
0.00
172.0
0.00
0.00
NHM
2012-13
MMA
24016.1
0.00
225.00
549.60
8145.60
222.00
510.00
3.00
1224.30
487.00
0.00
1215.48
215.79
0.00
0.00
308.55
1827.90
2263.50
0.00
26.25
422.97
293.79
62.25
285.00
624.70
358.74
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
1299.93
1044.00
420.00
135.75
1845.00
0.00
NFSM
89426
--
6000
320
4740
225
16210
0.00
450
0.00
0.00
7908
320
2235
0.00
141
3000
6308
0.00
5145
7200
0.00
145
0.00
1393
10364
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
1275
4456
2041
100
9450
0.00
RKVY
2013-14
5507.67
0.00
0.00
193.28
207.83
17.50
380.80
112.25
270.09
214.63
0.00
338.09
112.50
202.35
63.0
70.0
364.61
732.49
0.00
84.32
0.00
6.81
468.90
585.90
266.60
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
745.46
65.88
0.00
0.00
0.00
4.38
NHM
28440.59
0.00
316.95
655.50
7556.70
187.50
577.50
18.00
1929.00
1011.00
0.00
415.23
360.00
59.85
210.60
473.70
2826.63
2778.90
0.00
30.00
906.90
430.65
433.80
289.38
1272.00
577.95
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
1006.50
1738.20
967.05
200.10
1211.00
0.00
NFSM
92054
5303
5925
524
5600
375
5768
0.00
87
4372
0.00
2500
1100
100
30.00
94
0.00
10008
0.00
400
7268
0.00
358
0.00
2275
28104
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
3175
6250
0.00
2438
0.00
RKVY
8039.57
318.85
450
250.4
226.7
419
290
100
168
431.2
0.00
482
150
240
0.00
25
690
383
0.00
326
720.05
50
393
521.5
424
140
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
84
36
52.5
200
465.09
3.28
MIDH
2014-15
13562.92
400.2
147.84
118.33
2418.71
218.5
258.25
21
854.15
266
0.00
483.15
95.7
37.5
49.5
89
2284.91
1795.73
0.00
12.8
854.8
215.15
200.3
100.15
257
288.56
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
550.48
431.78
387.18
83
643.25
0.00
NFSM
5123.85
26.67
231.96
0.00
170.32
27.46
202.71
0.00
419.9
0.00
0.00
23.77
17.84
0.00
0.00
0.00
1138.77
1431.06
0.00
0.00
506.72
23.69
43.27
0.00
285.89
410.75
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
74.02
0.00
0.00
0.00
89.05
0.00
NMOOP
RKVY- Rastriya Krishi Vikas Yojna MMA – Micro Management in Agriculture NHM- National Horticulture Mission NMOOP- National Mission on Oilseed and Oil Palm NFSM- National Food Security Mission SMAM- Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization
TOTAL
--
0.00
Uttarakhand
Telangana
10662
63.0
11220
Uttar Pradesh
Tripura
Tamil Nadu
128
5075
Sikkim
Rajasthan
Nagaland
1858
311
330
Mizoram
Punjab
0.00
Meghalaya
0.00
230
Manipur
Puducherry
0.00
Maharashtra
5873
6574
Madhya Pradesh
Odisha
0.00
Lakshadweep
81
8500
Karnataka
Kerala
14013
Jharkhand
96
0.00
Jammu & Kashmir
1200
Himachal Pr.
0.00
Goa
Haryana
0.00
Delhi
10083
0.00
Daman & Diu
Gujarat
0.00
D & N Haveli
16145
Bihar
1819
2610
Chhattisgarh
1063
Assam
31980
0.00
RKVY
Arunachal Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
A&N Islands
Name of the State/UT
16584.64
692.87
597.77
90.56
2121.35
39.46
843.75
18.52
1579.93
209.45
0.00
708.94
61.5
49.79
125.14
110.13
2033.71
1392.04
0.00
237.13
961.78
357.76
118.41
101.59
255.21
794.38
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
518.53
900.8
562.06
48.58
1053.5
0.00
SMAM
MIDH
NFSM
6657.5
238.75
98.75
10
177.5
60
213.75
0.00
793.75
10
0.00
181.25
81.25
256.25
31.25
35
611.25
965
0.00
6.25
463.75
38.75
16.25
0.00
96.25
480
0.0
0.00
0.00
0.00
152.5
38.75
333.75
85
1182.5
0.00
NMOOP
2015-16 (Allocation) Allocation for the farm mechanization activities under these schemes will be based on the Annual Action Plan of the State Governments.
RKVY
14968.38
549.23
620.45
79.72
1710.30
257.21
661.18
129.83
1241.40
186.56
2.00
576.67
225.93
202.93
362.67
191.11
1596.20
1127.40
0.00
192.23
920.48
281.40
98.99
77.95
211.63
725.24
2.00
3.00
0.00
2.00
400.29
691.59
692.00
188.32
758.47
2.00
SMAM
Table 1: Details of funds allocated/released to the State Governments during the last three years and the current year, State-wise for farm mechanization. (Rs. in lakhs)
Vol. 39(4), 2015
Agricultural Engineering Today from the sampled states and institutions. The primary data was collected using four separate structured questionnaires covering beneficiaries who attended training programs of different levels such as Management Level, Academic level, Technical Level and User level at FMTTIs and through State Agriculture Department and ICAR sponsored institution i.e. Central Institute of Agriculture Engineering, Bhopal. A separate check list based questionnaire was administered for the head/ lead person of the implementing agencies to collect physical and financial progress and detailed qualitative responses. The secondary data were collected in the form of disbursement and utilization of funds, physical progress of training, testing and demonstration programmes, from Mechanization and Technology Division, Dept of Agriculture & Cooperation (MoA), Directorate of Agriculture (DoA), FMTTIs, and CIAE Bhopal. The annual reports from FMTTIs and consolidated report from the website of MoA were analyzed.
The total samples targeted for personal interviews were 1470 across all the states comprising 1110 beneficiaries from training, 50 host farmers and 310 demonstration participants. The actual sample covered was 1071 beneficiaries. To cope up with ever increasing demand for testing of newly developed agricultural machines and equipment, in addition to four FMTTIs, DAC, Ministry of Agriculture has authorized 29 State Agricultural universities (SAUs),/ICAR including 3 State Agriculture Departments, as to test, selected type of farm machinery under different categories of farm operations. The list of designated testing centers is given at Annexure 1. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION All the four Farm Machinery Training & Testing Institutes (FMTTIs) located at Budni (Madhya Pradesh), Hissar (Haryana), Garladinne (Andhra Pradesh), and Biswanath Chariali (Assam), are conducting 39 in-campus Courses of different durations on correct operational techniques, maintenance, repair and management of agricultural machinery for different categories of personnel ranging from actual user owners, technicians, rural artisans, under graduate Engineering students, Government Nominees, Representative of Machine Manufacturers, Defense Personnel and Foreign Nationals. Trainees sponsored by the state nodal agencies to the User Level Courses at the FMTTIs are being paid stipend @Rs. 500/- per week per trainee. Travel expenses to the trainees admitted in these courses are being paid on actual basis by ordinary mode of transport from their place of residence to the training institute and back. Institutes are also conducting Off- campus training programmes and demonstration of newly developed agricultural/horticultural equipment’s and postharvest technology, at farmers’ fields.
Sampling design: The scheme has been implemented in 27 states/ UTs with the help of respective State Governments, FMTTIs and Government Sponsored Institutions. Since the components of the Scheme mainly consist of training, testing and demonstration, the sampling framework involved all the states and UTs covered under the scheme and grouped into six zones, i.e. North Eastern Region, Eastern Region, Central Region, Northern Region, Western Region and Southern Region. Depending on the number of states falling under each region, the states were selected from each zone which varied from minimum 1 to maximum 3 states in a region. Data on allocation of funds provided by the Mechanization & Technology Division, DoAC (MoA) were also considered while selecting the states from each region so as to get a mixed sample. A total of 1110 beneficiaries were sampled for administering the interviews keeping in view the total number of 30400 beneficiaries trained by the FMTTIs as per their Annual Reports, considering 95% confidence level and confidence interval of 3% (Anonymous, 2014). Since the number of actual demonstration conducted and number of participants was not available, the numbers of host farmers and those who participated during the demonstrations were selected in consultations with the staffs implementing the scheme on ground.
All the four FMTTIs are conducting performance testing of tractors and Agricultural machinery for the benefits of manufacturers of agricultural machines, R&D institutions engaged in development of farm machinery. Testing is being carried out as per relevant Indian Standards of BIS. If, the Indian Standard for any machine is not available, the testing is carried out as per any other relevant International standard. Based on these standards test codes are applied 44
Vol. 39(4), 2015 ANNEXURE 1 List of identified institutions for testing non-self-propelled Agricultural machines/equipment 1.
Acharya N.G. Ranga Agriculture University (ANGRAU), Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad. (AP)
2.
Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Rajendra Agriculture University, Pusa (Bihar).
3.
State level Agriculture Implement Testing Centre, Agriculture Department, Govt. of Chhattisgarh, TeliBandha, Gorav Path, Raipur.
4.
Division of Agricultural Engineering, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-12.
5.
College of Agricultural Engineering & Technology, Junagarh Agricultural University, Junagarh.(Gujarat)
6.
College of Agricultural Engineering & Technology, CCS Agriculture University, Hissar. (Haryana)
7.
Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agri. Science & Technology, Srinagar and Jammu Region.
8.
Birsa Agriculture University, Kanke, Ranchi (Jharkhand)
9.
Jharkhand Agriculture Machinery Testing and Training Centre (JAM-TTC)Govt. of Jharkand, Ranchi.
10. University of Agricultural Sciences, Gandhi Krishi Vignyan Kendra, Bangalore (Karnataka). 11. College of Agricultural Engineering, UAS, RAICHUR, (Karnataka). 12. Farm Machinery Testing Centre, Kerala Agricultural University Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering & Technology Tavanur, Malappuram (Dist), Kerala- 679573. 13. Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Berasia Road, Bhopal M.P. 14. Dr. A.S. College of Agricultural Engineering MPKV, Rahuri, Distt. Ahmednagar. Maharashtra. 15. Farm Machinery Testing, Training and Production Centre, Department of FM&P, Dr. PDKV, Akola. 16. College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli. Maharashtra 17. College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Marathwada Agricultural University, Pabhani. Maharashtra. 18. College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubneswar (Orissa). 19. State Level Farm Machinery Training & Testing Centre, Agriculture Department, Government of Orissa, Bhubaneswar. 20. College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiyana (Punjab). 21. Farm Implements and Machinery Testing & Training Centre, Central Workshop, Swami Keshwanand Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner (Rajasthan). 22. College of Technology and Agricultural Engineering, Maharana Pratap, University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur (Rajasthan). 23. College of Agricultural Engineering and Post-Harvest Technology, Ranipool, Gangtok (Sikkim). 24. Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, COIMBATORE. 25. State Level Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute, Govt. of U.P., Rehmankhera, Lucknow. 26. Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology & Science (AAI), Deemed University, Allahabad(U.P.) 27. Uttranchal College of Technology, Gobind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar(U.P.) 28. West Bengal Department of Agriculture & Food Engineering, IIT, Kharagpur (W.B.) 29. State Farm Machinery Training-cum-Testing Institute, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, (BCKVV), Mohanpur, Dist. Nadia (W. B.)
45
Agricultural Engineering Today for various categories of agricultural machinery and implements. The agricultural machines manufactured within the country or imported are tested for functional suitability and performance characteristics to decide the type of machine best suited for Indian conditions. It helps financial institutions in recommending financial assistance to the manufacturers as well as the farmers, to carry out trials on machines and implements which have proved to be successful in other regions of the world with a view to examining the possibility of their introduction in the country. Another advantage is to ensure quality through `Batch Testing’ programmes which also assist the manufacturers in the product improvement.
training materials provided were adequate, boarding and lodging facilities were satisfactory, equipment provided were adequate and also use of the audio visual aids was effective. Post training, 62% reported that the skills and knowledge gained were put to use while 38% had not been able to do so. The use of training skill varied depending on the occupation profile of the trainee. The trainees reported positive impact of training courses by way of reduction in hours of field operations by 8% to 13%, reduction in water use by 16% to 40%, increase in production by 17% to 32% and increase in income by 4% to 11%. The technicians and operators reported increase in income by 8% to 20%. There was enhancement of skills level among the beneficiaries. On a scale of 10, the beneficiaries placed the overall impact of the training programs, on an average, at 7. The rating given depended on the occupational profile of the participants; highest being by students (7.21) followed by technicians/operators (7.17) and farmers (7.17).
Conduct of Training programmes by FMTTIs (2007-12): The CRFMTTI Budni trained 9507 beneficiaries against the target of 9200. The participation was more in courses such as Technician level, Academic level and User Level courses in comparison to other courses. A small number of technology transfer camps were organized reportedly due to staff constraints. The NRFMTTI Hisar trained 9744 beneficiaries against the target of 9000 under Need based (33%), Academic (35%) and User level (20%), respectively. The SRFMTTI Anantapur trained 7319 beneficiaries against the target of 6700 beneficiaries under the Need based (40%), Awareness through multimedia (22%) and Academic Level courses (18%), respectively. The NERFMTTI Biswanath Chariali, trained 3758 beneficiaries against a target of 3700 beneficiaries under the User Level courses (38%), Technology Transfer Camps (26%) and Academic course (15%), respectively. Participation under Technical, Management and Need based courses was low. In case of SRFMTTI and NERFMTTI, it was observed that more number of programs of short duration of 1-2 days was conducted in order to meet the overall targets. Majority of the trainees (86%) who attended the training programs felt that the training programs were relevant while 11% felt it to be partially relevant. Only 3% felt that the training courses were not relevant. Majority of the trainees felt that the training programs were appropriately designed and the contents were relevant and the courses useful. Most of the (97%) of the trainees opined that the duration of training programs was adequate. More than 80% of the training beneficiaries felt that the
Outsourcing of Training and Demonstration (2007-12): In order to improve the coverage of farmers and youth residing in rural areas, the State Agriculture Departments and the Government Sponsored Institutions organized training programs and demonstration of farm machineries and equipment. A total of 11 states were taken up for evaluating the performance of training programs and demonstration activities conducted by the Government Sponsored Institutions. More than 29 thousand demonstrations were organized by 11 sample states and 191 new implements were introduced under the PSAMTTD Scheme. The States conducted more of demonstration activities than training programs. In many cases, it was observed that the demonstration and awareness camps were also reported as training programs. A total of 560 training programs were organized by two states Tamil Nadu (493) and Madhya Pradesh (67). Among the sample states, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand had spent more than 90% of the allocated funds for demonstrations, while Punjab had spent only 12%, West Bengal 22% and Assam 39%. The performance of Assam, Rajasthan, Uttarkhand, and Odisha remained above average while in Andhra Pradesh, it was not significant. Table 1 gives the details of funds allocated and released to the State Governments. In Rajasthan, 46
Vol. 39(4), 2015 MPUAT demonstrated various equipments, of which the garlic planter was demonstrated on a large scale. Overall performance of the PSAMTTD implemented by the State Agriculture Department was satisfactory as the demonstrations played a significant role in popularizing the newly developed agriculture machineries and creating awareness among the primary users of agriculture equipment/ machineries. Over 90% trainees found the training to relevant, 10% as partially relevant and 96% felt that the training inputs were appropriate. More than 90% of the participants received the training materials and felt that the training was useful and duration was adequate. Out of 157 beneficiaries, 27% adopted the technology, 45% felt that they had better skills to operate and maintain agriculture equipment, 14% reported lesser breakdown, 38% changed certain farm management practices, 48% trained and helped other farmers in operation and maintenance of equipment and 16% generated additional income after attending the training programs. Out of 157 beneficiaries, 51% reported increase in production, 59% reported reduction in hours of field operations, 54% reported reduction in water use, 46% reported increase in productivity/ income and 89% reported overall change in skill level. Increase in productivity ranged between 23% and 42%. There was, on an average, reduction of 6 hours, in time spent on field operations due to adoption of farm machines. More than 90% of the participants/ host farmers were satisfied with the demonstration activities. Different equipment demonstrated in different States had relative preferences based on the requirement and compatibility with the agricultural practices. The laser land levellers, rotavators, zero till drills were preferred in Haryana, rotavators and seed drill were preferred in Madhya Pradesh, while paddy transplanters were preferred in Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Odisha. Out of 185 respondents, 42% reported full adoption mostly through hiring on custom basis and 37% purchased the machinery. Another 38% were inclined to purchase the machineries if the cost was subsidized. However, the farmers also responded that machineries were not readily available in the market and 68% were unaware of the place from where they could be purchased. Post demonstration, the machines remained idle for long period of time without proper protection leading to depreciation. In Uttarakhand, Rajasthan
and Tamil Nadu, the machines were lent to farmers for their field operations free of cost. Tamil Nadu was the exception where charges were levied and transferred to the Government. Testing of Agriculture Machineries by FMTTIs (2007-12): The FMTTIs conduct 2 types of Tests, viz., Commercial and Confidential. The commercial test is further sub categorized in Initial Commercial Test, Batch Test and OECD. The Central Region Farm Mechanization Training and Testing Institute (Budni, MP), conducted 256 tests of which 229 (89%) were under commercial category and 27 (11%) were under the confidential category. The Northern Region Farm Mechanization Training and Testing Institute (Hissar, Haryana), conducted 456 tests of which 83% were under commercial category while 17% were conducted under confidential category. Southern Region Farm Mechanization Training and Testing Institute (SRFMTTI), conducted 146 tests of which 141 (97%) were under commercial category while 5 (3%) were under confidential category. The North Eastern Region Farm Mechanization Training and Testing Institute (NERFMTTI) conducted 99 tests. With regards to testing of equipments, it was observed that under the Commercial Tests, negligible number of Batch Tests was conducted while a large number of Initial Commercial Tests were conducted. Fig. 1 gives the details of machine tested since inception of Testing Centres till March 2015. CONCLUSIONS The CRFMTTI Budni trained 9507 beneficiaries; the NRFMTTI Hisar trained 9744 beneficiaries; the SRFMTTI Anantapur trained 7319 beneficiaries and NERFMTTI Biswanath Chariali, trained 3758 beneficiaries. The Central Region Farm Mechanization Training and Testing Institute, Budni, conducted 256 tests of which 229 (89%) were under commercial category; the Northern Region Farm Mechanization Training and Testing Institute, Hissar conducted 456 tests of which 83% were under commercial category; Southern Region Farm Mechanization Training and Testing Institute (SRFMTTI) conducted 146 tests of which 141 (97%) were under commercial category and North Eastern Region Farm Mechanization Training and Testing Institute (NERFMTTI) conducted 99 tests. With regards to testing of equipment, it was observed that 47
Agricultural Engineering Today 2
153
140
217
51 165
163
36 54
73
144 961
1145
97 11 CRAWLER TRACTORS AGRIL.IMPLEMENTS & MACHINES POWER SPRAYERS ENGINES COMPONENTS USER SURVEY
WHEELED TRACTORS POWER TILLERS COMBINE HARVESTERS SPRAYERS CENTRIFUGAL PUMPS THRESHERS
Fig. 1: Machine Tested at FMTTIs since Inception to March 2015
under the Commercial Tests, negligible number of Batch Tests was conducted while a large number of Initial Commercial Tests were conducted.
Division. Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi – 110 001. Chandra Subhash; Prasad Dhrub. 2014. Farm Machine Banks and its Impact on Mechanization Process and Socio-economic Condition of Member Farmers. Agricultural Engineering Today, 38(2): 33-38.
REFERENCES Anonymous. 2014. Promotion and Strengthening of Agricultural Mechanization through Training, Testing and Demonstration – Evaluation and Impact Assessment of Plan Scheme Implemented during XI Five Year Plan (2007-12). Study conducted by NABARD Consultancy Services (NABCONS) for Mechanization and Technology
Chandra Subhash; Prasad Dhrub. 2014a. Mechanization Indicating Parameters for Site Selection of Farm Machine Bank in Bihar. Agricultural Engineering Today, 38(1): 18-24.
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Vol. 39(4), 2015
Effect of Crop Geometry, Cutter Speed and Forward Speed on Performance Characteristics of Tractor Operated Forage Harvester-cum-Chopper Rajesh Verma, Vishal Bector (LM-10047), Gursahib Singh (LM-7773) College of Agricultural Engineering & Technology Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana- 141 004 E-mail:
[email protected] Manuscript received: June 8, 2015
Revised manuscript accepted: October 6, 2015
ABSTRACT Tractor operated disc type forage harvester-cum-chopper was evaluated in maize fodder to determine its performance characteristics considering crop geometry (single row and paired row), cutter speed (95 and 105 rpm) and forward speed (1.70, 2.30 and 3.30 km/h) as three independent parameters and throughput capacity (t/h), harvesting efficiency (%), height of cut (cm), loss of moisture content (%), chopping size (cm) and fuel consumption (l/h) as dependent parameters. Data collected during the study was statistically analyzed using factorial Completely Randomized Design (CRD) to see the effect of independent variables on dependent variables. Further, the field operation parameters were selected on the basis of ranking across the different parameters. Ranks were determined on the basis of weighted means and weights to selected dependent parameters were assigned using the expert opinion method. After finding the weighted means of all the 12 options the most suitable combination of field operation independent parameters were found to operate the machine at 3.3 km/h with cutter speed of 95 rpm in paired row crop. Key words: Crop geometry, forage harvester, forage chopper, cutter speed, fodder INTRODUCTION Fodder production in the country in general and in Punjab state in particular has to be substantially increased if the present population of 7.31 million cattle and buffalos (60.4 million adult animals) in the state has to be provided with sufficient fodder of good quality (Anonymous, 2014). The area under fodder crops in the state is around 0.86 million hectare and the annual production is about 67.27 million tonnes of green fodder (Anonymous, 2014). Harvesting of fodder crops especially tall fodder is a serious problem because of shortage of labour at the time of harvesting. The forage equipment industry in India is changing in response to changing scenario of livestock production and the need of dairy farmers. Most of the changes are occurring with existing fodder machinery in the country, but many new product developments and innovations are also being introduced. In India,
the chopped green fodder is fed to dairy animals directly after harvesting from the fields. The manual cutting of fodder crops using scythes has a very low productivity and involves human discomfort too. But, mechanical harvesting of fodder crops requires handling of largest possible volume of the crop in minimum time and without loosing the fodder quality in terms of moisture content and other nutritional characteristics of the harvested crop. Keeping in view the field performances of available forage harvesters, a disc type forage harvestercum-chopper having positive feeding mechanism was evaluated to determine its performance characteristics for a tall crop. The machine harvests, chops and loads the chopped fodder in the trailer attached behind the machine. Zhang et al. (2003) used shredding/crushing mechanism to design and fabricate a corn silage harvester and found average specific energy 49
Agricultural Engineering Today requirements for shredding varied significantly among different roll speed treatments. Garg et al. (2004) carried out feasibility evaluation of flail type forage harvester cum chopper. The machine could harvest a trolley load of 60 to 70 quintal (1 quintal = 100 kg) of fodder in 15 to 20 minutes at field capacity of 1.5 to 2.0 ha/day. The length of chopped fodder varied from 4.0 -9.0 cm. Khar and Ahuja (2007) studied self-propelled flail type flail forage harvester for harvesting of maize fodder at three levels of forward speed of the machine, flail speed, rake angle each.
cum-chopper harvests, chops and load the chopped fodder in the trailer attached behind the machine (Fig. 1). The chopping mechanism of the machine consists of a flywheel equipped with 12 knives and the crop is cut by the two serrated disc revolving in opposite direction. After cutting, the crop is held by vertical mounted pressure rollers. The blades mounted on the flywheel further reduce the size and the crop is conveyed by flappers mounted on the flywheel into the trailer. The brief specifications are given in Table 1. The machine was evaluated in maize fodder crop (African tall variety) grown in two crop geometries i.e single row and paired row (Fig. 2) at two cutter
MATERIALS AND METHODS The tractor operated disc type forage harvester-
Fig. 1: Tractor operated forage harvester-cum-chopper Table 1: Machine parameters of tractor operated forage harvester-cum-chopper Parameter
Observation
Type of machine and power source, hp
Tractor PTO operated, 45 hp or above
Number and type of cutting discs
2, serrated type
Spacing between row dividers, mm
260
Number of chopping knives
12
Type of throwing chute
Adjustable
Overall dimensions (LxWxH), mm and Weight, kg
2700, 2000, 2800
Fig. 2: A view of fodder grown with two different crop geometry 50
Vol. 39(4), 2015 speeds (95 & 105 rpm ) and three forward speeds (1.70 , 2.30 and 3.30 km/h). The effect of these parameters was observed on throughput capacity (t/h), harvesting efficiency (%), height of cut (cm), loss of moisture content (%), chopping size (cm) and specific fuel consumption (l/t). Data collected was statistically analyzed using factorial completely randomized design (CRD) to see the effect of independent variables on dependent variables. After evaluation, the field operation parameters were selected on the basis of ranking across the different parameters. Ranks were determined on the basis of weighted means and weights were assigned to selected dependent parameters using the expert opinion method.
be due to relatively more lodging of paired row crop. The difference in harvesting efficiency with increase in cutter speed was found non significant (Fig. 4; Table 3). Effect on height of cut: The height of cut increased with increase in forward speed in both single row and paired row crop. It was observed due to inclination of crop towards centre in paired row crop as compared to single row crop. The difference in height of cut with
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION African tall variety of maize was harvested 74 days after sowing. The plant population and crop weight per meter row length, plant height, stem diameter and moisture content at the time of harvesting were recorded in both single row and paired row plots (Table 2). The effect of selected independent parameters (crop geometry, cutter speed and forward speed) on dependent parameters is explained as under.
Fig. 3: Throughput capacity at selected independent parameters
Effect on throughput capacity: The throughput capacity increased significantly with increase in speed and also in paired row crop it was higher as compared to single row crop. However, the increase in throughput capacity with increase in cutter speed at particular forward speeds was non-significant (Fig.3; Table 3). Effect on harvesting efficiency: With increase in forward speed it was found that the harvesting efficiency decreased at cutter speed of 95 and 105 rpm in both single row and paired row crop. It might
Fig. 4: Harvesting efficiency at selected independent parameters
Table 2: Crop parameters in single row and paired row Sr. No.
Parameter
Single row
Paired row
1
Average Plant population, number/m row length
5.30
9.40
2
Plant height, mm
1713
1576
3
Stem diameter, mm
19.4
18.6
4
Crop weight, kg/meter row length
1.53
1.81
5
Moisture content at the time of harvesting, %
72.8
72.1
51
Agricultural Engineering Today Table 3: Comparative analysis of selected dependent parameters Crop Cutter geometry speed (rpm) 95 Single row 105
95 Paired row 105
Forward speed
Option
(km/h)
Throughput capacity
Harvesting Height efficiency of cut
(t/h)
(%)
(cm)
Loss of Chopping Specific fuel moisture size consumption content (%) (cm) (l/t)
1.7
A
2.30
90.25
6.42
3.16
2.77
1.96
2.3
B
3.05
89.83
7.28
4.17
2.88
1.56
3.3
C
4.43
85.33
9.58
4.49
2.98
1.06
1.7
D
2.41
91.92
6.38
4.61
2.60
2.18
2.3
E
3.14
90.75
7.13
5.30
2.85
1.69
3.3
F
4.52
86.17
9.48
5.46
2.92
1.18
1.7
G
2.70
89.17
8.08
4.35
2.48
1.68
2.3
H
3.45
88.25
8.43
4.92
2.50
1.38
3.3
I
4.78
84.92
10.13
5.59
2.87
0.99
1.7
J
2.80
89.58
7.75
4.85
2.57
1.97
2.3
K
3.61
89.42
8.42
5.58
2.65
1.48
3.3
l
4.90
83.75
10.04
5.95
2.95
1.11
increase in cutter speed was found non significant (Fig. 5; Table 3). Effect on loss of moisture content: Moisture content in the harvested and chopped fodder crop is one of the important parameter of fodder quality. The loss of moisture content increased significantly with increase in forward speed and cutter speed of the machine due to high shear rate and impact. It was further observed that the loss of moisture content in paired row crop was significantly more as compared to the loss in single row crop due to higher feed rate (Fig. 6; Table 3).
Fig. 6: Loss of moisture content at selected independent parameters
Effect on chopping size: Like loss of moisture content, chopping size is also very important parameter to determine the fodder quality. Due to positive feed of the crop, the variation in chopping size was found non significant with increase in forward speed and cutter speed of the machine. The difference in chopping size for the crops sown in single row and paired row was also non significant (Fig. 7; Table 3). Effect on specific fuel consumption: Fuel consumption by the machine is always among the top priorities of the farmer to fit it into the overall profitability of every crop production
Fig. 5: Height of cut at selected independent parameters
52
Vol. 39(4), 2015
Fig. 7: Chopping size at selected independent parameters
system. The specific fuel consumption was found relatively less in paired row crop as throughput capacity was relatively more in paired row crop as compared to single row crop. The decrease in specific fuel consumption with increase in forward speed was found significant. Significant increase in specific fuel consumption was recorded with increase in cutter speed of the machine (Fig. 8; Table 3). Selection of optimal field operational parameters on the basis of performance characteristics of the machine: Considering all the selected levels
Fig. 8: Specific fuel consumption at selected independent parameters
of independent parameter, 12 probable options of dependent parameters were compared (Table 3). Further these options were ranked on the basis of weighted mean of all the dependent parameters to select the most suitable options of field operational parameters (Table 4). After finding the weighted means of all the 12 options, four best suitable options for machine operation (I, II, III & IV) were selected on the basis of overall rank determined by using the ranks of each dependent parameter (Table 5). Among all the four options, the options I, II & III having the forward speed of 3.30 km/h were found better than the option IV due to relatively higher throughput capacity of 4.90, 4.78, 4.52
Table 4: Rank and weighted mean of selected dependent parameters Option
Throughput capacity
Harvesting efficiency
Height of cut
Loss of moisture content
Chopping size
Specific fuel consumption
WM
R
W
R
W
R
W
R
W
R
W
R
W
A
12
8.75
3
7.75
2
7.00
1
7.50
6
6.50
10
8.25
4.52
B
8
8.75
4
7.75
4
7.00
2
7.50
9
6.50
7
8.25
4.34
C
4
8.75
10
7.75
10
7.00
4
7.50
12
6.50
2
8.25
5.12
D
11
8.75
1
7.75
1
7.00
5
7.50
4
6.50
12
8.25
4.56
E
7
8.75
2
7.75
3
7.00
8
7.50
7
6.50
9
8.25
4.63
F
3
8.75
9
7.75
9
7.00
9
7.50
10
6.50
4
8.25
5.41
G
10
8.75
7
7.75
6
7.00
3
7.50
1
6.50
8
8.25
4.65
H
6
8.75
8
7.75
8
7.00
7
7.50
2
6.50
5
8.25
4.62
I
2
8.75
11
7.75
12
7.00
11
7.50
8
6.50
1
8.25
5.49
J
9
8.75
5
7.75
5
7.00
6
7.50
3
6.50
11
8.25
5.13
K
5
8.75
6
7.75
7
7.00
10
7.50
5
6.50
6
8.25
4.94
L
1
8.75
12
7.75
11
7.00
12
7.50
11
6.50
3
8.25
6.08
O: Option; R: Rank; W: Weightage; WM: Weighted Mean
53
Agricultural Engineering Today Table 5: Selection of field operation parameters of the machine Rank
Option
Field operation parameters
Machine performance parameters
Crop geometry
Cutter speed (rpm)
Forward speed (km/h)
Throughput capacity (t/h)
Loss of moisture content (%)
Specific fuel consumption (l/t)
I
L
Paired Row
105
3.3
4.90
5.95
1.11
II
I
Paired Row
95
3.3
4.78
5.59
0.99
III
F
Single Row
105
3.3
4.52
5.46
1.18
IV
J
Paired Row
105
1.7
2.80
4.85
1.97
REFERENCES Anonymous. 2014. Package of Practice of Kharif Crops of Punjab. Pp.110. Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India. Bucker R J. 1967. Forage plot Harvester. Agron J 59: 203-204. Garg I K; Manes G S; Dixit Anoop. 2004. Feasibility evaluation of flail type forage harvester cum chopper. FIM report. Department of F.P.M, PAU, Ludhiana. Pp 72-80. Khar Sanjay; Ahuja S S. 2007. Studies on a self propelled forage harvester. Ph. D. Thesis, PAU Ludhiana. Singh J. 1979. Development of a tractor drawn rotary mower for range grass harvesting and hay making. J Agri Engg 16(3): 129-30. Zhang M; Sword M L; Buckmaster D R; Cauffman G R. 2003. Design and evaluation of a corn silage harvester using shredding and flail cutting. Transaction of the American Society for Agricultural & Biological Engineering 46(6): 1503-1511.
t/h as compared to 2.80 t/h. However, since the throughput capacity was significantly more and specific fuel consumption of 1.11 and 0.99 l/t were significantly low in paired row crop, the options I & II for paired row crop were further preferred over the option III having specific fuel consumption of 1.18 l/t. Since, the loss of moisture content (5.59%) and specific fuel consumption (0.99 l/t) were found significantly low at cutter speed of 95 rpm as compared to cutter speed of 105 rpm (5.95% and 1.11 l/t), hence the option II was found more suitable than option I. CONCLUSION Keeping in view all the performance characteristics of the machine in terms of the selected dependent parameters, the most suitable combination of field operation and independent parameters were found to be operating the machine at 3.3 km/h with cutter speed of 95 rpm in paired row crop.
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Agricultural Engineering Today
Vol. 39
October-December 2015
No. 4
CONTENTS Page Techno-Economic Feasibility Study of Low Cost Gravity Ropeway for Carrying Agricultural Produce in Hilly Terrain — S N Yadav and T K Khura
1
Development of Safety Attachment for Coconut Climbing Device — H L Kushwaha and Dushyant Singh
9
Modelling and Optimization of Extrusion Process Using Genetic Algorithms — Kirandeep, M S Alam and Lokesh Jain
16
Studies on Effect of Storage Environment on Quality of Paddy — S P Divekar, P K Sharma, D V K Samuel and S K Jha
24
Impact of Climate Change on Sugarcane and its Mitigation — Ashok Kumar Shrivastava, Vinay Kumar Singh, T K Srivastava, Vinod Kumar, S P Shukla and Varucha Misra
31
Testing, Demonstration and Capacity Building Activities with Support from DOAC schemes (2007-12) — Vijay Kumar N. Kale and Anjani Kumar Nathani
41
Effect of Crop Geometry, Cutter Speed and Forward Speed on Performance Characteristics of Tractor Operated Forage Harvester-cum-Chopper — Rajesh Verma, Vishal Bector, Gursahib Singh
49
Guidelines for Authors
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