Indian Journal of Agricultural Research
SCOPUSWeb of Science
  • Year: 2026
  • Volume: 59
  • Issue: SPL

Energy use Efficiency and Economic Feasibility of Self-propelled Single Row Cotton Picker over Traditional Cotton Picking Practices

  • Author:
  • S. Sai Mohan1*, C. Ramana2, A. Ashok Kumar3, K. Madhusudana Reddy4, N. Sunitha5
  • Total Page Count: 8
  • Page Number: 162 to 169

1Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Dr. NTR College of Agricultural Engineering, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Bapatla-522 101, Andhra Pradesh, India.

2Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Director of Research and University Head, Regional Agricultural Research Station, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Tirupati-517 502, Andhra Pradesh, India.

3All India Coordinated Research Project on Functional Independence Measure Scheme, Dr. NTR College of Agricultural Engineering, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Bapatla-522 101, Andhra Pradesh, India.

4Department of Agricultural Engineering, S.V. Agricultural College, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Tirupati-517 502, Andhra Pradesh, India.

5Department of Agronomy, Sri Mekapati Goutham Reddy Agricultural College, Udayagiri-524 226, Odisha, India.

*Corresponding Author: S. Sai Mohan, Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Dr. NTR College of Agricultural Engineering, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Bapatla-522 101, Andhra Pradesh, India. Email: samalasaimohan@gmail.com

Abstract

Over the years, cotton cultivation and production has been increasing quantitatively in the country. India, being one of the five largest cotton producing countries in the world, the entire cotton is picked manually. Increase in the wage rate of human labour is the major factor responsible for the drastic rise in cost of cotton cultivation which accounts for 30% of the total cost of cultivation. Considering the issues and challenges with respect to high operation costs, labour scarcity and adaption to various field condition, a research work has been undertaken to develop a self-propelled single row cotton picker.

A self-propelled single row cotton picker was developed and evaluated for its performance. Energy spent in the field and energy use efficiency in both machine picking and traditional practices was measured in terms of man hour’s expressed in megajoules per hectare (MJ ha-1). Straight line method was adopted for performing the cost economics.

Energy use efficiency was found to be less in case of manual picking i.e., 17.4% compared to 31.7% in machine picking. Similarly, energy productivity in case of manual and machine picking was calculated to be 1.48 kg MJ-1 and 2.65 kg MJ-1, respectively. Cost of self-propelled single row cotton picker was calculated to be is Rs. 8,50,000. Cost of operation using developed prototype was found to be 789 Rs h-1 and 5,175 Rs ha-1 with a saving of 70% compared to manual picking. Also, 90% saving in labour hours spent in harvesting was noted. Payback period of the machine was calculated as 4.8 years. Breakeven analysis was found to be 275 h yr-1.

Keywords

Break-even point, Depreciation, Energy productivity, Energy use efficiency, Pay-back period