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A Walking Type Self-Propelled Single-Row Carrot Harvester-Cum-Detopper for Hilly Region

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Abstract

Carrot harvesting by manual digging using hand hoe and manual de-topping in Indian hilly regions is a highly labour-intensive operation with drudgery to the labourers. In this reported study, some of the physical and mechanical properties of carrot required in the design of digger were determined and developed a walking type self-propelled single-row carrot harvester-cum-detopper suitable for hilly area. Some of the physical properties of carrot determined were shoot length (602 mm), root length (260 mm), diameter of carrot at stem end (16.7 mm) and weight of carrot (70.12 g). The mechanical pulling force required for uprooting carrot tuber in the unloosen and loosen soil were 140 and 25 N, respectively, in sandy loam soil with bulk density of 1.6 g cm−3 at soil moisture content of 12–16% (d.b). The developed carrot harvester consists of digging unit, conveying unit, de-topping unit, collection unit, power transmission system and a 6 hp gasoline engine (4.47 kW) as power source. The carrot harvester was evaluated for its performance at various operating parameters, viz. blade height (100, 200 and 300 mm), conveying angle (15°, 25° and 35°) and catch height (20, 40 and 60 mm) in the bench terrace system followed in hilly region with the inward slope of 1–2%. The optimum operating parameters for the carrot harvester were found to be blade height of 300 mm, conveying angle of 25º and catch height of 40 mm. The field performance, viz. actual field capacity, digging efficiency and conveying efficiency of the self-propelled carrot harvester, was 0.028 ha h−1, 95.5% and 97.5%, respectively. The de-topping efficiency was 98%, and damage to carrots was 2%. The cost of the power operated carrot harvester is INR 100,000, and the cost of operation is INR.6077 per ha. A cost saving of 66% is achieved compared to manual harvesting. This carrot harvester is suitable for harvesting carrot cultivated in raised bed with single narrow row cultivation practice.

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Acknowledgements

The authors expressing their gratitude to CRP on Farm Mechanization and Precision Farming project funded by ICAR towards the development of self-propelled walking type carrot harvester.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Regional Station, ICAR-Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Coimbatore, 641 007, India

    T. Senthilkumar, Imran S. Syed, G. Manikandan & R. Sanjay Krishnan

Contributions

All authors equally contributed.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to T. Senthilkumar.

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Conflict of interest

The authors report that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Handling Editor: Anupam Varma.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 1227 KB)

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Cite this article

Senthilkumar, T., Imran, S.S., Manikandan, G. et al. A Walking Type Self-Propelled Single-Row Carrot Harvester-Cum-Detopper for Hilly Region. Agric Res (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40003-025-00875-2

  • Received
  • Accepted
  • Published
  • DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s40003-025-00875-2

Keywords

  • Carrot harvester
  • Conveying angle
  • Catch height
  • Digging efficiency
  • De-topping
  • Damage
  • Field capacity

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