Groundnut (Arachis hypogea L.) is a major oilseed crop and holds an important place in the Indian agricultural economy. Odisha occupies 6th place in the major groundnut-producing states of the country with a total production of 0.388 MT and is grown in both Kharif and Rabi seasons. Harvesting is one of the major unit operations in groundnut cultivation and is mechanically harvested by tractor-operated diggers but their use is limited because of small land holdings and high capital costs and is not economical for small and marginal farmers of the state. However, the groundnut diggers to match with power tillers are not commercially available, therefore, efforts were made to develop a single-row groundnut digger operated by a power tiller. The study was conducted to relate the soil and crop parameters for the digger design, which influences the harvesting of groundnut. The design of a power tiller-operated groundnut digger to harvest a single row of groundnut requires the data of soil parameters (soil type, bulk density, cone index and soil moisture content) and crop parameters (plant population, plant height, pod zone, pod spreading radius, taproot length, taproot diameter, pod-vine ratio), suitable for different groundnut varieties. It was found that the majority of groundnut varieties were grown in sandy soils and harvested at 12-15 % soil moisture for more yield with a minimum power requirement. It was observed that for all types of groundnut varieties the plant population, plant height, pod zone depth, pod spreading radius, taproot length, taproot diameter and the number of pods per plant varies from 24-29/m2, 31-49.18 cm, 5.79-6.86 cm, 5.87-9.15 cm, 11.70-13.78 cm, 4.64-5.84 cm and 11-27/plant, respectively.

A power operated maize stalk harvester was designed and developed in the Dept. of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, MPUAT, Udaipur, Rajasthan during 2018-19.  The objective of this study is to optimize the operational parameters of the maize stalk harvesting by using the RSM techniques. The effects of independent parameters i.e., blade speed (2000, 4000 and 6000 rpm) and stalk moisture content (38, 42 and 46%) on cutting efficiency (%) and fuel consumption (l/h) were studied. To correlate the independent parameters with the dependent parameters, the central composite rotatable design (CCRD) method with a quadratic model was used. The findings indicated that the variations in blade speed and stalk moisture content affected the cutting efficiency (%) and fuel consumption (l/h). To assess the statistical significance of the model, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed, which showed good agreement between the experimental data and data predicted by the model. The blade speed of 4000 rpm and stalk moisture content of 46.0% was found to be the optimum for power operated maize stalk harvester with the 96.52% cutting efficiency and 0.72 l/h fuel consumption.

A power tiller operated groundnut digger was designed and developed in the Dept. of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, CAET, OUAT, Bhubaneswar during 2021–22. The objective of this project was to optimize the operational parameters of the digger's conveying unit using the RSM technique. The study analysed the effects of soil moisture content and conveyor speed, on the conveying efficiency and soil separation efficiency with two different types of peg geometries. The central composite rotatable design (CCRD) method with a quadratic model was utilized to correlate the independent parameters with the conveying and soil separation efficiencies. The results indicated that variations in soil moisture content and conveyor speed had a significant impact on the conveying and soil separation efficiencies. The optimum parameters for the conveying unit of a power tiller operated groundnut digger were found to be a soil moisture range of 9.0-12.0%, a conveyor speed of 1.0 m/s and straight shank with bending tip pegs, resulting in a conveying efficiency and soil separation efficiency of 89.45% and 71.45%, respectively.