Development and Evaluation of an Onion Bulb Size Grading Machine: A Promising Solution to Enhance Efficiency and Reduce Costs for Local Onion Farmers

Abstract

Grading is vital in food processing, ensuring adherence to commercial standards and facilitating marketing. Unfortunately, the Philippine Onion industry lacks a suitable onion grader for field-level operations. Consequently, farmers still resort to manual grading, leading to labor scarcity during peak seasons, increased time and financial costs, and physical strain on the workers. Thus, the study aimed to develop a suitable onion (Allium cepa L.) bulb-size grading machine for farm-level operations. The device comprised six significant parts: input chute, cylindrical grader, discharge unit for onion bulbs, frame assembly, cover of the grading machine, and power transmission assembly. To evaluate the grader's performance, tests assessed grading efficiency, grading capacity, and energy demand at different shaft speeds (10 rpm, 20 rpm, 30 rpm). The experimental layout followed a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) and was analyzed using the Analysis of Variance test. The mean comparison was carried out using the Least Significant Difference (LSD) method, with a significance level set at 5\%. The results revealed that the most effective shaft speed was 10rpm, yielding an impressive 95.45\% grading efficiency and a notable grading capacity of 583.23 kg/hr. The cost analysis indicated that the grader could generate an additional income of at least 82,301.52 Php/year for onion farmers, with a payback period of 0.32 years and a remarkable rate of return of 204.85\%. These findings highlight the grader's cost efficiency, making it a valuable device for onion farmers.