Development and evaluation of a battery operated ginger (Zingiber officinale) washer for small and marginal farmers

T V ARUN KUMAR; PRAMOD P ARADWAD; PRANITA JAISWAL; SANTOSHA RATHOD; P K SAHOO; INDRA MANI

doi:10.56093/ijas.v92i9.109840

Authors

T V ARUN KUMAR ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, India https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8881-4081
PRAMOD P ARADWAD ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, India
PRANITA JAISWAL ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, India
SANTOSHA RATHOD ICAR-Indian Rice Research Institute, Hyderabad
P K SAHOO ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, India
INDRA MANI ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, India

https://doi.org/10.56093/ijas.v92i9.109840

Keywords:

Bruise index, Ginger, Microbial efficiency, Washing, Washing efficiency

Abstract

Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) is a commercial crop grown for its aromatic rhizomes which is used both as a spice and medicine. Being a root crop and owing to its physical structure, ginger rhizomes contain heavy soil load which makes washing as an important and prime post-harvest operation. Manual washing of ginger is a laborious and time consuming process. An experiment was conducted at the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi during 2020 with an objective to develop a continuous rotary drum type battery operated ginger washer and to evaluate its performance.The machine consists of the frame, feeding and discharge chutes, rotary drum with internal flights, pressure pump and nozzle assembly, battery and a drive unit. The developed washer was evaluated at different feed rate and residence time to appraise the washing efficiency, microbial washing efficiency, bruise index and colour of washed ginger. Increase in feed rate significantly reduced the washing and microbial efficiencies but increased mechanical damage. Washing and microbial efficiencies increased with increase in residence time.Significant difference in the colour was found between washed and unwashed ginger.The best set of conditions under which the washer could be operated was 150 kg/h and 25 sec, at which the machine was found to have mechanical washing efficiency of 92.48%, microbial washing efficiency of 93.18% and 4.54% bruise index. Besides eliminating drudgery of washing operation, the developed washer was found to save time, water and operating cost as compared to manual washing.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Adegbite S, Adeyemi S, Komolafe A, Salami M, Nwaeche C and Ogunbiyi A. 2018. Design and development of fruit washer. Journal of Scientific Research and Reports: 1–11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.9734/JSRR/2018/46041

Ajav E and Ogunlade C. 2014. Physical properties of ginger (Zingiber officinale). Global Journal of Science Frontier Research: D Agricultural and Veterinary 14(1): 1–8.

Ambrose D C and Annamalai S. 2013. Development of a manually operated root crop washer. African Journal of Agricultural Research 8(24): 3097–101.

Aradwad P P, Sinha J, Arun Kumar T V, Yadav R S and Samuel D. 2018. Development of solar powered screen cleaner. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 88(12): 1914–19.

Arora M, Sehgal V and Sharma S. 2007. Quality evaluation of mechanically washed and polished turmeric rhizomes. Journal of Agricultural Engineering 44(2): 39–43.

Arun Kumar T V, Thirupathi V, Rajkumar P, Viswanathan R and Kasthuri R. 2013. Development of mango stone decorticator. Journal of Agricultural Engineering 50(2): 17–25.

Arun Kumar T V, Thirupathi V, Rajkumar P and Kasthuri R. 2014. Design and evaluation of mango stone decorticator. AMA, Agricultural Mechanization in Asia, Africa and Latin America 45(3): 76–82.

Berza B, Abegaz K, Alemu T and Assefa F. 2012. Isolation, characterization and identification of post-havest spoilage fungi of ginger (Zingiber officinale) at Hadaro-Tunto and Boloso-Bombae, Southern Ethiopia. International Journal of Life Sciences 1(2): 19–27.

Dauthy M E. 1995. Fruit and vegetables processing. FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 119. International Book Distributing Co., Lucknow.

Emers M. 2012. Barrel Washer for Cleaning Root Crops, Alaska Agricultural Innovation Grant Report 2012. Department of Natural Resources, Alaska, USA. http://dnr.alaska.gov/ag/ Grants/RosieCreekFarmRootBarrelWasherReport2012.pdf

Ghuman R S, Khanna R, Singla S, Singh P and Singh H. 2014. Designing and fabrication of automatic root crop washer. International Journal of Research in Mechanical Engineering and Technology 4: 222–24.

Hordofa T S and Tolossa T T. 2020. Cultivation and post-harvest handling practices affecting yield and quality of major spices crops in Ethiopia: A review. Cogent Food and Agriculture 6(1). DOI: 10.1080/23311932.2020.1788896. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2020.1788896

Jayashree E and Visvanathan R. 2010. Studies on mechanical washing of ginger rhizomes. Journal of Agricultural Engineering 47(4): 37–40.

Kumar V and Azad A R. 2020. Performance evaluation of continuous types carrot washer for different roots crops. Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 9(3): 706–10.

Pal U, Khan K, Sahoo N and Sahoo G. 2008. Development and evaluation of farm level turmeric processing equipment. AMA, Agricultural Mechanization in Asia, Africa and Latin America 39(4): 46.

Ranganna S. 1986. Handbook of Analysis and Quality Control for Fruit and Vegetable Products. Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi.

Singh M K, Singh S, Singh M and Ekka U. 2019. Battery assisted four-wheel weeder for reducing drudgery of farmers. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 89(9): 1434–38.

Verma K and Karwasra N. 2018. Performance evaluation of vegetable washer for carrot crop. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences 7(1): 454–58. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2018.701.053