Development and Performance Evaluation of an Improved Soybean Thresher.
ABSTRACT
Due to the bulky of the and since it has to be harvested with the , the conventional threshers for maize and guinea corn cannot be used for the without modifications. An improved soybean thresher has been developed and its performance has also been carried out.
From the results, threshing efficiency, cleaning efficiency, mechanical grain damage, scatter loss, and throughput capacity of 99%, 95%, 1.01%, 2.7%, and 25.5kg/hr were obtained respectively.
Also from the ANOVA statistical analysis carried out, it shows that all the in-dependable variables i.e. feed rate, moisture content and speed have significant effects on the dependable variables i.e. threshing efficiency, cleaning efficiency, scatter loss, mechanical grain damage, and throughput capacity.
INTRODUCTION
Soybean (Glycine max (L) men), is a herbaceous annual legume that is usually erect, bushy, and rather leafy. Cultivars range from 45-120cm in height with a growth period of 75- 150 days and most have a main stem that branches from the lower nodes (Smith and Huyser, 1987).
The extend of branching depends on environmental conditions (light and available moisture). The stems, leaves, and pods are covered with fine towny or grey pubescence. The pods are small, straight, or slightly curved and range in color from light straw to nearly black.
The pods contain one or four seeds round to elliptical in shape. Popular commercial cultivars have straw yellow seeds, but cultivars with greenish-yellow, brown, or black seeds are also found.
Soybean is one of the world’s most important food crops having a superior amino acid profile compared to other sources of plant protein. It provides about 64 percent of the world’s oilseed meal supply and is a major source of oil, accounting for about 29 percent of total world production (Smith and Huyser, 1987).
It contains about 40-41% protein and 20.5-21.5 % oil. Soybean is processed to separate the oil from the protein meal which is incorporated into the animal and poultry feeds. Soybean combines in one corm both the dominant world supply of edible vegetable oil, and the dominant supply of high-protein feed supplements for livestock.
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StudentsandScholarship Team.