National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS)
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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
The state of Jammu and Kashmir has the distinction of producing best quality apples with highest proportion among all member states of Indian state. These apples are usually graded by manual labours of all age groups. The heavy reliance on manual labours and their non-availability at peak season has increased the overall cost of apple production. The existing mechanical graders are bulky, costly, imported and non-portable. A low cost motorized portable apple grader was fabricated with feeding hopper, conveying rollers, flow reduction device, main frame, power transmission system and collecting trays. The apples were graded into four grades viz., Grade I- less than 50 mm, Grade II - 50-60 mm, Grade III - 60-70 and Grade IV above 70 mm. The apple grader has overall dimensions of 1460 mm x 842 mm with a cost of Rs. 12,000. The optimum conditions for the efficient working of apple grader occurred at roller spacing of 56-82 mm and hopper inclination of 30 degree resulting in a grading efficiency of 84.2 % at 100 rpm. The machine has a throughput capacity of 530 Kg per hour. The grader resulted in cost saving of Rs. 1782/- per tonne and 17 fold reduction in grading time in comparison to manual method of grading. The cost analysis of grader revealed that break-even point occurred at 424 hours per annum with an annual utility of 225 tonnes and the corresponding pay-back period of apple grader was one year.
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