Improvement Of Engine Driven Sorghum Thresher By Incorporating Grain Cleaning System

Аннотация

The improved engine driven sorghum threshing machine was designed and produced at Fedis agricultural research center with the objectives of solving the critical threshing and cleaning problems of sorghum produce the farmers’ and subsequently, to reduce the drudgery of the farmers’, grain loss and cost of threshing, in comparison with traditional methods of manual threshing by using wood log. The developed machine was tested in east Hararghe Zone, Haramaya district, Horo Kebele. The variables considered includes two sorghum varieties (muria and fandisha), three levels of cylinder speed (500,700 and 900 rpm), three position of cylinder-concave clearances (13, 18 and 23 mm) and three feed rates of the un-threshed sorghum head (10 kg/min, 15 kg/min and 20 kg/min). The experimental design was split-split plot design with three replications. The result obtained indicated 87.28-95.30% threshing efficiency, 7-10 qt/h output capacity and 74%-88% cleaning efficiency at constant grain moisture contents of 15-17% for both varieties. KEYWORDS Sorghum thresher, threshing, Cleaning system, Improvement, Sorghum thresher.