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Agriculture production can be enhanced by considering all the farm operations especially the harvesting of crops is the more sensitive operation. The selection of appropriate farm machinery for harvesting not only save the harvesting time but also enhance the farm profitability. The agro-climatic and economic factors are the major hindrance on the way to adopt the harvesting machinery and latest movers in Pakistan. The objective of this work was to redesign an engine operated reaper at affordable price and performance evaluation of this reaper for harvesting three different crops (wheat, rice and brassica). Three levels of reaper ground speed (S) (1.94, 2.54 and 3.18 kmh-1) and three different levels of moisture contents (MC) for each crop were considered as factors. A (3 x 3) factorial analysis was conducted to see the impact of "MC" and "S" on percent slippage, field efficiency and shatter losses. The main effects of S and MC were significant for all the crops for each factor (p<0.05), except MC which was non-significant for shatter losses in wheat and rice (p= 0.0667) and (p=0.847), respectively. Statistical Analysis showed that selected levels of MC and S had significant effect on % slippage, field efficiency and shatter losses. The cost analysis indicated that the breakeven point of the modified reaper can be achieved after 19 days of purchase. Study demonstrated that grain losses can be minimized, and farm profitability can be maximized by selecting suitable combination of M and S. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sugarcane is one of the most important cash crops grown in Pakistan which accounts for 3.4% share in agriculture value addition and 0.7% in gross domestic products (GDP). It is a tropical and perennial grass sensitive to the soil type, climate change, irrigation, insects, fertilizers, varieties and the harvest period. Pakistan annually produces 81.1 million metric tons (MMT) of sugarcane but unfortunately, about 30% sugarcane crop is lost at harvesting stage particularly due to deficiency of mechanized harvesting approaches. This study has been carried out to fabricate and performance evaluate a tractor propelled sugarcane harvester to reduce sugarcane losses during harvesting in Pakistan. The major components of indigenously developed sugarcane harvester include hydraulically operated bottom cutter, top cutter, blower and conveyor and all of them are fixed on a movable iron frame. For optimization, the sugarcane harvester was operated at three different gears (G1, G2 and G3) and engine speeds (N1=1800, N2=1900 and N3=2000 rpm) of tractor and working widths (Kw1=0.85, Kw1=0.92 and Kw3=1.02 m) of harvester for sugarcane variety CP-77400 to determine the maximum field efficiency and material capacity. The results showed that maximum field efficiency was found to be 75.10% and material capacity was 12.87 ton/hr at G3, N3 and Kw3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]