Development of tractor operated front mounted grass seed harvester

Abstract

In order to increase the productivity of grasslands and rangelands, grass seed collection from large fields is required. Manual grass seed collection is a labor and time consuming operation. A tractor operated grass seed harvester was developed keeping in view the requirements of common grasses used as feed material in Indian context. This grass seed harvester was made using nylon brushes arranged in specific fashion on a rotating cylinder and a winding reel in front of rotating cylinder to collect seed from the grasses standing in the fields where tractor can operate. The specific features of this machine were variable speed of rotating cylinder brush, special arrangement of brushes on the cylinder to carry the detached seed into the seed box, variable height of operation and front mounting of the machine on tractor. This machine was tested for seed collection in Pennisetum pedicellatum (Dinanath grass) and Cenchrus cilliaris (Anjan grass). Seed collection capacity of the machine was 4.24 to 7.12 kg/h in Dinanath grass during 2nd operation and 2.10 to 3.56 kg/h in Anjan grass at the full maturity in two passes of the machine in to and fro direction. The field capacity of seed collection operations ranged from 0.21 to 0.47 ha/h.