College of Agril. Engg & Tech., Gujarat Agricultural University, Janagadh - 362001.
Demand for small tractors is on increase because of small holding, fragmentation of land and subsidy policy. The development of suitable equipment, tools and implements for many field operation matching small tractors is negligible. Groundnut is the main cash crop of Saurashtra region. It's harvesting is labour and energy consuming. Efforts were made to develop a two-row groundnut digger blade driven by a small tractor. The developed blade was tested and compared with other existing traditional blades and found superior in all aspects. The effective field capacity, field efficiency, harvesting efficiency and fuel consumption determined for the developed blade are 0.126 ha/h, 77.8%, 94% and 2.4 l/ha, respectively.
