Semi-mechanized Harvesting of the Safflower Petals in Comparison with Conventional Method
Journal Title: Journal of Agricultural Machinery - Year 2021, Vol 11, Issue 2
Abstract
IntroductionSafflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is an oil plant with a growth cycle of 120 days. The seeds of this crop are primarily used for oil production, while its flower petals are used for extracting natural pigments and medicinal purposes. The cultivation area for this crop in Iran was about 2300 ha during 2014-2015. Due to the recent droughts, cultivation of this crop has a good income for farmers because of the short growth period, resistance to drought (water stress) and less maintenance requirements. In the meantime, the flower petals of this crop are used for food coloring and medical affairs. The flower petals are harvested with the traditional method in most parts of Iran, which has a lot of hardship for harvesting and increases production costs. On the other hand, this crop is contaminated in terms of sanitary factors due to the contact of the worker hands with flower petals. Therefore, applying a proper mechanization method for petals harvesting is an effective step in the development of this crop cultivation.Materials and MethodsIn this study, three petal harvesting methods including the manual (conventional) method, Knapsack (Indian modified) method and Fossil-fueled wheelbarrow machine method were compared in terms of effective field capacity, downfall loss percentage, purity percentage, energy consumption, and harvesting costs. The Indian knapsack machine was modified. The experimental design format was a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replicationsâ. In the knapsack method (modified), petals were separated from the receptacle by a cutting blade and sucked into the machine reservoir. In the manual method, petals were separated from the reception by the worker hands and put inside the special bags which hanged on the worker neck. In the fossil-fueled wheelbarrow machine, an 8 kW motor-powered engine was used to set up the 1200 w vacuum system and cutting unit. The vacuum system was installed on the special chassis in wheel barrow machine. Each experimental plot had about 149 safflowers in one square meter area, which was harvested in different methods.Results and DiscussionThe results showed that the harvesting loss (W.W.) of the Knapsack method, Fossil-fueled wheelbarrow machine method, and manual method were 0.63%, 1.11%, and 3.25%, respectively. The percentages of purity were 97.71%, 98.66%, and 95.29%, respectively. There was a significant difference between machine and manual methods in 5% level. The effective field capacity of the methods was 2.45, 2.76, and 1.39 g min-1 (in dry condition), which was not significantly different between the machinery treatments in 5% level. The energy consumption for the fossil-fueled wheelbarrow machine was significant compared to the other two methods (1356 kW h-1 in 30 days). In terms of the economic point, benefit-cost ratios were 1.75, 1.55, and 1.16 for the Knapsack method, Fossil-fueled wheelbarrow machine method, and manual method, respectively. If the solar panel was used in the Knapsack method, the benefit-cost ratio would decrease to 1.54.ConclusionThe field capacity of machines methods was more than manual method for safflower petal harvesting. The Knapsack machine had less loss percentage than other treatments. The wheelbarrow machine had a higher degree of purity, but no significant difference was observed between this treatment and the Knapsack method. The energy consumption of the wheelbarrow machine was higher than other treatments. The economic evaluation showed that the Knapsack machine had a higher benefit-cost ratio than other treatments. If the solar panel was used by this machine, the use of a solar panel system would be economical too. Finally, with regards to the technical and economic parameters, using the Knapsack machine was recommended for safflower petal harvesting.
Authors and Affiliations
M. Safari,H. Sharifnasab,
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP717991
- DOI https://doi.org/10.22067/jam.v11i2.80725
- Views 54
- Downloads 0
Economic Evaluation of using Different Tillage Methods and Crop Rotation in Rain-Fed Wheat Cultivation
IntroductionSoil protection against water and wind erosion is of great importance. Since most soils of arid and semi-arid regions of Iran are poor in organic matter and continuous use of conventional tillage (moldboard p...
Recognition of Paddy, Brown Rice and White Rice Cultivars Based on Textural Features of Images and Artificial Neural Network
Identification of rice cultivars is very important in modern agriculture. Texture properties could be used to identify of rice cultivars among of the various factors. The digital images processing can be used as a new ap...
Identifying and prioritizing customer requirements from tractor production by QFD method
Introduction Discovering and understanding customer needs and expectations are considered as important factors on customer satisfaction and play vital role to maintain the current activity among its competitors, proceedi...
Comparison of Applied Forces on Selective Joints and Muscles of Drivers During Clutching of MF285 and MF399 Tractors
In this research, the imposed forces on three muscles including: Gastrocnemius muscle, Trapezius muscle and Quadratus lumborum of the tractor drivers during clutching have been studied. The sample included 30 persons and...
Assessment of Mechanical Damage on Olive Fruit under Impact Loading
Introduction The olive fruit (Olea europaea L.) is so sensitive to impact like many other crops that would lead to mechanical damage and bruising which reduce the quality of it. The olive fruit damage includes a brownish...