Authors: Adisa, A. F., Ndirika, V.I.O, Yiljep, Y.D. and Mohammed, U.S.
Transnational Journal of Science and Technology (TJST), Republic of Macedonia. Vol. 2, No. 2:p 93- 107.
Abstract
There was need to develop a mechanical harvester for Nigeria small rice fields which are usually inter-planted with other crops.
A study of field performance evaluation of a 30cm width prototype self propelled pedestrian controlled grain stripper header which was developed in Nigeria was carried out. In evaluating the harvester’s field performance, Randomized Complete Block design (RCB) was adopted to study the harvester performance at various forward speeds, stripper rotor speeds, stripper rotor heights,harvested grain purity, field capacity and harvester efficiency. It was tested on faro 44 rice variety at Basawa, Zaria. The computed mean value of crop purity was 89.70%, effective harvester mean field capacity was 0.40ha/day, harvester mean field efficiency was 56.68% and harvester mean efficiency was 78.00%.
Keywords: Field performance, evaluation, developed, stripper harvester.