The paper proposes a solar collector with sensible heat storage materials for crop drying applications. The materials used were pebbles and gravels. The experiments were conducted under the meteorological conditions of Ujire, Karnataka, India. The bed thickness of pebbles and sand was 20 cm, and air velocity for pebbles and sand as absorbers was 4 m/s and 2 m/s. The experiments were started at 9 o’clock and stopped at 17 o’clock; for every one-hour interval, readings were recorded. Experimental and theoretical heat transfer analyses were carried out and the results were discussed with the help of characteristic curves. The collector with pebbles as absorber showed better performance than the collector with sand as absorber. This is due to surface roughness and higher Reynold’s number. The maximum theoretical and experimental values of temperature resulted for pebbles were 344 K and 321 K, and for sand 334 K and 322 K, respectively. The average theoretical efficiency obtained with pebbles as absorber was 39%, and for sand 28.5%. The average value experimental efficiency with pebble as absorber was 25%, and for sand 11%. The developed collector system with pebbles and sand as absorber provides moderate temperature heat and is best suited for drying of crops.