Performance Evaluation of Maize Cob Harvester in Chhattisgarh, India

Maize is one of the vital crops after rice and wheat in India and is a widely produced cereal. Maize contributes only 2.4 percent of total world production. Maize occupied 22.98 lakh hectares, with a production of 36.61 MT in India. The average yield per hectare during 2020- 21 was 2804 kg per hectare. The performance of the maize cob harvester was tested to know the effect of three independent parameters like forward speed of operation (1.7 km/h, 1.9 km/h, 2.1 km/h), snipper speed (55 m/min, 62 m/min, 68 m/min), Variety of maize crop (Dhania- 9965, Sartaj-765, D-9081) on different dependent parameters like stripping loss, ratio of stem length before and after harvesting and machine parameter like actual field capacity, field efficiency. It was also observed that the machines work satisfactorily at forward speed 1.9 km/h and snipper speed 62 m/min. crop parameters stripping losses 0.197%, ratio of length of stem before and after harvesting are 825 mm and 113.33 mm and machine parameter actual field capacity is 0.081 ha/h, field efficiency 75.7%. The cost of operation of machine was found as Rs.337.65 per hour, breakeven point was found as 149.64 h and payback period was 2.5 years (approx.) The total output of machine is 75 q/ha.