HARVESTING & THRESHING

EQUIPMENT
Dr. A.Q. Rajput
 HARVESTING
• It is the operation of cutting, picking, plucking/pulling and
digging or
• a combination of these operations for removing the crop from
under the ground or above the ground or removing the useful
part or fruits from plants.
Harvesting action can be done by four ways:
1) Slicing action with a sharp tool.
2) Tearing/destroying action with a rough serrated (toothed) edge.
3) High velocity single element impact with sharp or dull edge.
4) Two elements scissors type action.
 THRESHING
•Thresher is a machine to separate grains
from the harvested crop and provide clean
grain without much loss and damage.
•During threshing, grain loss in terms of
broken grain, un-threshed grain, blown
grain, spilled grain etc. should be
minimum.
•The total grain loss should not be more
than 5 %.
 Harvesting
Harvesting can be done by:
(i) Manually operated tool
(ii) Animal drawn machine
(iii)Mechanically operated machine.
There are a few related terms in connection with
harvesting, which are as below:
• Mower: It is a machine to cut herbage crops and leave
them in swath/wrapping.
(Herb is any seed-bearing plant which does not have a
woody stem and dies down to the ground after flowering)
 Mower
Mower is a machine to cut herbage crops and leave them
in swath / wrapping.
There are different types of mower used in
different ways such as:
(i) Cylinder mower: It has rotating helical blades
arranged in horizontal cylindrical form. With
the rotation of blades, fodder or grasses are
cut continuously.
(ii) Reciprocating mower: It is a mower with a
knife having sections that reciprocate
(responds) against stationary (fixed) fingers.
It is most common type of mower used
everywhere.
Mower------------continue
(iii) Horizontal rotary mower: It is a
mower with high speed knife rotating in
the horizontal plane. Due to rotation of
knife, the grasses and fodder are cut in
uniform way.
(iv) Gang mower: It is an assembly of
two or more ground driven cylinder
mowers.
 Mower----------------continue
(v) Flail mower: It is a
mower with high speed
swinging knives,
operating either in a
horizontal plane or
around a horizontal
cylinder.
 Harvesting-----------------continue
• Reaper: It is a machine to cut grain
crops.
• Reaper binder: It is a reaper, which
cuts the crops and ties them into
neat and uniform bundles.
• Swath (ribbon, binding): It is the
material as left by the harvesting
machine
Harvesting--------------------------------

• Sickle: It is a curved steel blade having a

hand grip and used for harvesting by
manually.
• Windrow: It is a row of material formed by
combining two or more swaths.
• Windrower: It is a machine to cut crops
and deliver them in a uniform manner in a
row.
 Harvested Methods

• There are different methods of harvesting which are generally used are as
under,

1- Conventional method
2- Mechanical method
 Conventional method
• Conventional methods of harvesting, largely depending on timely labour
availability and costs associated with harvesting.
• Manual harvesting is still the major method of harvest in developing
countries while mechanized harvesting dominates in developed countries.
Manual Harvesting
• Manual harvesting is most common in under-developed and developing
countries.
• Even in developed countries, certain crops are harvested manually for
highest quality and premium price (delicate vegetables and fruits).
• Certain crops are handpicked without using any tools.
• The sickle, spade and digging rods (crowbars) are the major traditional
tools for harvesting and digging.
• In manual harvesting, sickle is the most important tool.
 Manual Harvesting---------------------------------
• Different tool used for harvesting is
sickle/knife especially for harvesting
of plants with woody stems.
• The output is low and the effort
required for operation is high.
• In indeterminate crop, harvesting is
done at intervals as the economic
product comes to maturity at different
periods.
• Pods or fruits are picked at periodical
intervals.
• Harvesting green gram, black gram
cotton etc., is known as picking and is
done at 15 days interval.
 Mechanical method
• In this methods harvesting
and threshing done with
reaper and thresher.
Reaper/cutter: A reaper is a
farming tool or person that reaps
(cuts and gathers) crops at harvest,
when they are ripe.
Reaper is machine which has been
developed in the west for cutting
the grasses, but we have adopted
it for harvesting of wheat and rice
crops.
 Mechanical method----------------------------------

• Combine harvester : The first combine harvester was

developed by Hiram Moore in 1839.
Basically combine harvester is a machine that combine the tasks
of harvesting, threshing and cleaning the grown crops.
Function: it performs different function.
1- cutting,
2- spreading,
3- cleaning,
4- storing,
5- threshing and harvesting.