FACTORS AFFECTING CUCURBITA-PEPO CROP SEED LOSSES AND DAMAGE BY USING A SEED EXTRACTING MACHINE PROTOTYPE

Tayel., S. A.; EL-Nakib, A. A.; Khairy, Mohamed Fayed A.; Kamel, O.M; Desouky, D.  M.

doi:10.21608/mjae.2010.105574

FACTORS AFFECTING CUCURBITA-PEPO CROP SEED LOSSES AND DAMAGE BY USING A SEED EXTRACTING MACHINE PROTOTYPE

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Prof. emeritus of Ag. Eng., Fac. of Ag. Al-Azhar U. – Cairo, Egypt.

² Prof. and Head of Ag. Eng. Dept, Fac. of Ag. Al-Azhar U. Cairo, Egypt.

³ Head of researches of Ag. Eng. Res. Institute - EL-Dokki, Cairo, Egypt.

⁴ An agric. Eng. in the agric. mechanization sector- Ministry of agric., Egypt.

10.21608/mjae.2010.105574

Abstract

Ninety seven percent of seed extracting of cucurbita crops are accomplished by manual methods. Many Workers are needed for one feddan which costing to much money. Consequently, increasing the production cost and reducing the farmer’s profit. Increasing the planted area of cucurbita crops requires increase of the propelled seed extractors, with high capacity. The present study is conducted to study the effective factors on cucurbita pepo crop seeds damage and losses by using seed extracting prototype. (Common names: cucurbita pepo L, pumpkin, vegetable marrow, summer pumpkin, autumn pumpkin) In addition the physical and mechanical properties of cucurbita fruits and seeds were studied. The results revealed that the seed-extracting machine operated successfully under field conditions. The combination of 0.116Mg/min feed rate, 2.48m/s drum speed,15 mm drum-concave clearance and six days time span after harvesting achieved the minimum values of seed damage. The feed rate of 0.116Mg/min, drum speed of 3.38 m/s, drum-concave clearance of 5 mm, the extracting cylinder – curved plate clearance 5mm, rotational speed of separating sieve 25 rpm and extracting time after six days achieved the minimum value of seed losses (4.1%).

Main Subjects

Agricultural Power and Machinery Engineering

References

Abd-Elmoniem, H. A. (1994):Production and physiology of vegetable seeds (Arabic Textbook), Published By Eldar Elarabia - Cairo - Egypt.

Baldwin, J. A.(1990): Peanut, a grower’s guide to quality. J. published by Planters Life's Savers Co., Winston-Salem - North Carolina, USA

Buyanov, A. I. and B. A. Voronyuk (1985). Physical and Mechanical properties of plants, fertilizers and soils. Amerind Punl. Co. PVT. LTD. New Delhi- Bombay- calcutta – New York: 384-401

E.M.A. (Egyptian Minstry of Agriculuture) (2006) Economic affairs sector - Statistical year book(2) :211-261

Fouad I.S.A.A.A.(2004):Construction and performance of a machine for separating watermelon seeds PhD Thesis–Elmansoura Univ.: 68-78

Hassan M. A, M. M. Morad, M. A. El-shazly and A. Farag. (1994): Study on some operating parameters affecting the performance of combine devices with reference to grain losses. Misr J. Ag. Eng. 11(3): 764-780.

Kolief R. M, R. R. Abo-Shieshaa and A. El-Mesery. (2005): Development and evaluation of seed extracting machine for seed melons. Misr J. Ag. Eng, 22(2): 555- 571

Mohsenin, N. N. (1986): Physical Properties of Plant and Animal Materials. New York: Gordon and breach Science Publishers: 58 -92

Vergano, P. J.; R. F. Testion; A. C. Choudhari and W. C. Newall. (1992):Peach vibration bruising: The effect of paper and plastic films between peaches. J. of Food Quality 15 (3):183-197.