Physical Properties of Sugarcane Pertaining to the Design of a Whole Stalk Sugarcane Harvester

Sugarcane crop plays a vital role in nation’s economy, being one of the most commercialised crops in India. The production cost of sugarcane is increasing year after year which reduces the profit margin of sugarcane growers and sugar industry. Harvesting is one of the key operations responsible for increase in sugarcane production cost. Hence a tractor mounted whole stalk sugarcane harvester suitable for small and medium farmers is highly essential. The physical properties of sugarcane pertaining to de-topping, de-trashing and conveyance are studied for the designing of a whole stalk sugarcane harvester. The various physical parameters for the major varieties of sugarcane are measured in the farmers’ field. The farmers’ grow CO 86032 sugarcane at a row spacing of 75 to 100cm, and the spacing is increased to 150 and 200cm wherever harvesting is done by self propelled combine harvesters. The average number of cane per meter varied from 27 to 30. The length of the millable cane varies between 1200mm and 2700mm. The maximum and minimum diameters are 40 and 20mm respectively. The trash content at the time of harvesting was 38.56 percent where the regular de-trashing processes were completely skipped by farmer