Abstract
Cereal grains are growing in greater quantities worldwide than the other crops and supply more food energy to the humankind however, harvesting and threshing operation of such crops are affected by moisture content. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of moisture content on the threshing performance. Evaluation was carried out by measuring the initial moisture content and then by adding water to the crops, the desired moisture content was achieved. The dimension of the grains was determined. Completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications was used to determine the effect of threshing efficiency, threshing capacity, fuel consumption, breakage of grain, germination rate, percentage of unthreshed grain and blower loss at 14%, 18%, and 22% moisture content for barley, wheat, and teff selected varieties. Statistical analysis was made by (SAS-8) software. The results indicated that, as the crop moisture content increase, the dimension of grain, sphericity of seed, angle of repose, thousand grain mass, fuel consumption, and coefficient of friction were also increased. Whereas, threshing capacity, and efficiency, cleaning efficiency, density, germination rate, and grain breakages were deceased. This study concluded that for low fuel consumption, low unthreshed grain and better threshing, the moisture content of the crops should be between 14% to 18%.
Highlights
Cereal crops were mostly grasses cultivated for their edible seeds
Among many cereal crops such as tef, maize, barley, sorghum, millet, wheat, etc., only three cereal crops were selected based on area coverage in Ethiopia for this research to check whether the moisture content of the biomass affects the performance of the thresher machine or not
The fuel consumption of the system was increasing sharply from 1.14 l/hr. to 2.02 l/hr., 1.72 l/hr. to 2.73 l/hr., and 1.70 l/hr. to 2.36 l/hr. at which the moisture content of the barley, wheat, and tef crop biomass was increased from 14% to 22% respectively
Summary
Cereal crops were mostly grasses cultivated for their edible seeds ( called a caryopsis) Those were grown in greater quantities worldwide than any other type of crop and provide more food energy to the human race than other crops. It provides essential nutrients and energy in the everyday human diet through direct human consumption and through meat production since they comprise a major livestock feed [8]. Cereal grains such as tef, maize, barley, sorghum, millet, and wheat are the major sources of food in Ethiopia. Among many cereal crops such as tef, maize, barley, sorghum, millet, wheat, etc., only three cereal crops (tef, barley, and wheat) were selected based on area coverage in Ethiopia for this research to check whether the moisture content of the biomass affects the performance of the thresher machine or not
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