Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Nabibagh, Bhopal-462038 (M.P.)
Online published on 13 December, 2017.
Paddy threshing is a labour intensive operation and mostly carried out by farm women in bending posture. In this study, the performance of pedal operated paddy thresher was evaluated with farm women and compared with traditional method i.e., manual beating of paddy on wooden log. The mean working HR in pedal operated paddy thresher was found to be 134 beats/min, whereas it was 141 beats/min by traditionalmethod. The corresponding work pulse (ÄHR) was 51beats/min. The energy expenditure rate (EER) found to be 17.7 kJ/min with the use of paddy thresher whereas traditional method it was recorded as 19.3 kJ/min. It was observed that there was 20% increase in output with paddy thresher and there was 43% drudgery reduction in ODR as compared to traditional method. Pedal operated paddy thresher is an improved and convenient technology developed for minimizing drudgery and grain losses occurred during threshing.
