Tractor Mounted Reaper

A tractor (41 kW) operated flail type harvester-cum-chopper-cum-loader was designed to facilitate harvesting, chopping and loading operations simultaneously. The crops viz. bajra, sorghum, maize, barseem and oats with height 1.00 to 2.50 m and stalk density 20-80 plantsm2 can be harvested successfully. The machine consists of a rotary shaft mounted with blades (flails) to harvest the crop, auger for conveying the cut crop, cutters for chopping and conveying chopped fodder through outlet into the trailer. The blades on the rotary shaft are staggered in three rows of 13 blades each on a horizontal axis perpendicular to the direction of motion. The blades cut the crop and auger conveys it to the chopper unit. The chopping mechanism having 4 blades cuts crops into pieces and the chopped material is thrown out at high speed and is filled into the hitched trailer to the machine. It also harvested lodged and over matured crop without any difficulty. The capacity of the machine is 0.20 hah at a forward speed of 2.5-4.0 kmh. The cost of operation of this machine is Rs. 1500ha against Rs. 3200ha by conventional method.