Development and testing of tree climbing and harvesting device for mango and coconut trees

摘要

The tractor mounted hydraulic elevator (TMHE) powered by tractor P.T.O. was developed and tested for mechanical harvesting of mango and coconuts. The biometric parameters of tree like height, crown, average yield etc of coconuts and mango were considered for the development of TMHE. The TMHE is designed and developed by considering the engineering product development cycle aspects. Accordingly, the different machine components are fabricated and assembled together at Dr. B.S. Konkan Krishi VidyapeethDapoli. The exhaustive field-testing of TMHE on mango and coconut orchard is conducted on plain and sloppy land upto 20.5 per cent slope on University and farmers field. The comparative study of manual and mechanical coconut harvesting has been conducted. The cost of TMHE is Rs 1, 50,000 (Rupees one lakh fifty thousand) only and can be used for tree spraying and tree pruning apart from fruit harvesting operations. The TMHE can be operated upto 20.5 per cent slope. The observed field capacity of the developed TMHE is 2800 mango (700 kg) per day and 4,524 coconuts/day for mango and coconut orchard respectively.