Physio-morphological and Mechanical propertiesof chillies for Mechanical Harvesting

Abstract

The plants and its produce characteristics are the basis to design a crop specific harvester. The objective of this study was to determine the physical, morphological and mechanical properties of chilli crop and fruits, that can be used in the design of harvester machine. The observations and data were collected by taking measurements at harvesting stage of three chilli cultivars. The fruit bearing behavior of plants was solitary with fruit position erect in Demon F₁ and pendent in Araka Meghana and Mahyco Tejaswini. The plant height ranged between 81.76 to 84.87cm depending on cultivars and fruits per plant were170.25 number for Tejaswini, 158.96 and 156.15 number, respectively for Araka Meghana and Demon F₁. It was observed that the length and diameter at shoulder of fruits was in the range of 4.97 to 10.44 cm and 0.8 to 1,25 cm, respectively. The moisture content reduced in leaves, stems and fruits as the maturation changed from matured green fruits bearing of plants to semi dry condition. The detachment force of fruits from plants increased as the fruits colour changed from matured green to fully ripened red and there after decreased.