Development and Evaluation of Knapsack Power Driven Cotton Picker

Er. R. K. Kathiria
Student

Prof. J. B. Savani
Major Advisor

Department of Farm Machinery and Power

College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology
Junagadh Agricultural University, Junagadh 362 001 (Gujarat)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT
Cotton (Gossypium herbaceum) is one of the most important fiber cash crop of
India as well as the world. India is the largest cotton growing country in the world with
area under cotton around 33 % (11.0 million-ha) with the production of 325.48 lakh
bales (5.53 million tons). The cotton grown area in Gujarat is about 2.62 million-ha with
the production of 106.82 lakh bales (1.82 million tons).
In India, cotton is hand-picked by human labours, which is time consuming and
tedious job. Keeping all these aspects in mind, a knapsack power driven cotton picker
was developed with considering the agronomical parameters, functional requirements,
engineering requirements and ergonomic aspects. The petrol / kerosene run engine of
0.9 kW, 5500 rpm was selected as power source. The other components of knapsack
cotton picker viz. impeller of aspirator, sucking assembly, collecting sack, mounting
frame, etc. were developed as per design requirements. The optimum picking spout
diameter of 40 mm and aspirator speed of 5000 rpm were considered for the
performance evaluation of knapsack cotton picker in terms of picking capacity, picking
efficiency, harvesting losses, trash content, quality of machine picked cotton and
ergonomic parameters. The economical parameters in terms of time, energy and cost of
operation were worked out for the knapsack cotton picker and compared with manual
picking method.
From the experimental results of three cotton varieties viz. G.Cot.12, G.Cot.18
and RCH-2(Bt), the picking capacity of knapsack cotton picker was found as 6.06 kg/h

(48.48 kg/day of 8 hours) whereas it was 2.50 kg/h

(19.97 kg/day of 8 hours) in

manual picking. The average picking efficiencies for all varieties under study were found
as 95.71 and 96.41 % respectively in case of cotton picking by knapsack cotton picker
and manual method.
found as

The average fuel consumption of knapsack cotton picker was

0.28 l/h. The trash content in cotton picked by knapsack cotton picker was

found as 6.33 % whereas it was 3.87 % in manually picked cotton.

The average

heart rate in cotton picking by knapsack cotton picker and manual method was
observed as 101.0 and 97.7 bpm respectively with oxygen consumption as 0.57 and
0.48 l/min. The mean energy expenditure for the knapsack cotton picker was 11.86
kJ/min whereas it was 9.98 kJ/min for manual picking.
The time requirement and cost of operation for knapsack cotton picker per
hectare were worked out as 371 h and ` 11041/- respectively which showed 58.55 %
saving in time and 21.25 % saving in cost over manual picking method. The higher
value of energy (4568 MJ/ha) was observed i.e. 2.61 times that of manual picking
method. The average pre-harvest losses were observed as 2.33 % for all varieties.
Considering losses for all varieties from knapsack cotton picker, there was 0.80 % yield
reduced due to mechanical picking method. The overall net realization from cotton
picking by knapsack cotton picker was found as 4.55 % increase over manual picking
method. The break-even point of knapsack cotton picker was worked out as 392.42 kg
per annum with payback period as 0.47 year. The performance of developed knapsack
cotton picker was found satisfactory.
The results indicate that the developed knapsack cotton picker is a viable
proposition and useful in saving of time as well as cost of operation.
KEY WORDS: Cotton picker, Knapsack, Pneumatic, Picking capacity, Picking efficiency,
Harvesting losses, Energy expenditure.