The harvesting operation of sugarcane is an energy and labour intensive operation. Human drudgery is also involved when the operation is performed manually. In order to alleviate the problem of manual harvesting, mechanization becomes an important factor. In the present paper, efforts made at Indian Institue of Sugarcane Research (IISR), Lucknow for partial mechanization of sugarcane harvesting has been discussed. At IISR, tractor operated harvester has been developed for cutting and windrowing of two rows of sugarcane at a row spacing of 75/90 cm. A separate power/tractor operated detrasher has also been developed for detrashing of harvested sugarcane stalks. Commercially available self propelled chopper as well as whole cane harvesters have also been discussed. Combine chopper harvesters are more common in the developed countries like Australia and U.S.A. due to their ability to handle even a heavy tonnage recumbent crop. These harvesters perform all the operations involved in sugarcane harvesting viz. cutting, cleaning and loading, in a single pass of the equipment. Major constraints in adoption of imported sugarcane harvesters in general and combine chopper harvesters in particular are high initial cost of the machine, wider row spacing requirement, high trash content in the harvested cane pieces, piecemeal cane harvesting system prevalent in the country and other socio-economical issues.
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