Performance Evaluation of Half-Feed Rice Combine Harvester

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the most important cereal grains cultivated in an area of 165 million hectares with approximately 756.7 million metric tons of production in the world. In 2019, Pakistan’s area under rice cultivation was about 2.9 million hectares, with 7.5 million tons yield.  Rice-wheat cropping system is the most famous, especially in Punjab, Pakistan. Harvesting is presently conducted through manual labor or with the utilization of outdated models of combined harvesters with huge grain quality and quantity losses. Imported half-feed rice combine harvester was introduced and an experiment was planned to evaluate their feasibility. The performance was evaluated at three levels of forward speed (3, 4, and 5 km/h) and cutter bar heights (12, 16, and 20 cm) during the harvesting season of 2021 in the district Sheikhupura, Punjab. The machine performance was based on header loss, effective field capacity, broken grains percentage, fuel consumption, and field efficiency. The collected data was analyzed at a 5% level of probability by randomized complete block design (RCBD). The statistical analysis revealed that the machine performed better at the speed S2 (4 km/h) and cutter bar height H2 (16 cm) with the maximum EFC (0.55 ha/h) and Field Efficiency (75.3 %) as well as minimum Grain Losses (24.7 kg/ha) and Grain Breakage (14.2 kg/ha) in standing crop condition. Therefore, this machine is recommended to farmers due to its higher EFC and Field Efficiency as well as lower Grain Losses and Grain Breakage as compared to the conventional methods and obsolete machinery.