Mechanization in onion harvesting and its performance: a review and a conceptual design of onion harvester from indian perspective
- Vol.103(1),Mar
- USA Springer 2022
- 295-304p.
Onion harvesting is a complex operation involving digging of the onion bulbs and cutting of matured leaves from the onion bulbs which is repetitious and tiring, and involves a lot of bending postures. This complex harvesting process often leads to delays which ultimately results in a financial loss to the farmer. In India, mechanization in onion (Allium cepa L.) harvesting is very low as compared to other tuber crops such as potato. Many attempts have been made to mechanize onion harvesting using potato diggers and other root crop harvesters. As the biometric properties of onion bulbs are entirely different from the crops for which these harvesters are intended the results have not been satisfactory, i.e., the cleaning efficiency is low and the damage percentage is high. Moreover, these harvesters only uproot the onion bulbs, but the matured leaves from the onion bulbs are required to be cut, which requires human intervention and time. This paper reviews the existing harvesting techniques followed both mechanical and traditional for onion crop. It also highlighted the research gap in mechanizing onion harvesting. The conceptual design of an onion harvester from Indian perspective for simultaneous topping and digging of onion bulbs has been given.