Manufacture and evaluation of a local simplified potato digger [electronic resource].

Includes references.

Filed experiments were carried out to manufacture a simplified potato digger from locally available materials and evaluate its performance under laboratory and field conditions. Digger performance was conducted under four different soil moisture contents (d. b.) of (9, 11, 13 and 15 %) and three different digging depths of (22, 27 and 32 cm). Digging operation was carried out at four different forward speeds of (0.9, 1.6, 2.2 and 2.8 km/h). Digger performance was evaluated in terms of potato losses, digging efficiency, energy requirements and digging cost. The experimental results reveal to the following: • The suitable digging depth to dig all potato tubers is 27 cm. • The optimum soil moisture content suitable for digging potato is 11 %. • The proper forward speed for operating. the manufactured potato digger is 2.2 km/h.

Summary in Arabic.

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