Performance and Economic Assessment of Green Pea Depodder

Abstract

A green pea depodder, developed by JNKVV, Jabalpur under the AICRP on PHET project, was evaluated at the Post-Harvest Engineering laboratory, AICRP on PHET, Department of Agricultural Engineering, BAU, Ranchi. The machine is composed of three functional sections: a feeding unit, a shelling unit, and a collection unit. To assess its performance, two local green pea varieties (short pea (Arkel) and long pea (Komal)) were tested under five different moisture content levels, measured at daily intervals. The depodder exhibited an average throughput capacity of 46.30 kg/h. Performance parameters included shelling efficiency (%), percentage of unshelled pods (%), and percentage of damaged peas (%). The short pea (Arkel) variety achieved the highest shelling efficiency of 97.780 ± 0.471% at a moisture content of 51.09%, with 2.220 ± 0.471% unshelled pods and 0.923 ± 0.119% damaged peas. The long pea (Komal) variety reached a maximum shelling efficiency of 93.247 ± 0.776% at 55.31% moisture content, with 6.753 ± 0.776% unshelled pods and 1.516 ± 0.144% damaged peas. The study clearly showed that decreasing moisture content led to improved shelling efficiency and reduced unshelled pods, while higher moisture content had adverse effects. A comparative economic analysis between mechanical and manual shelling methods revealed that the cost of shelling using the green pea depodder was found to be Rs. 6.57/kg, compared to Rs. 20.83/kg for manual shelling. The results highlight the green pea depodder as a cost-effective and time-saving solution, particularly beneficial for small-scale farmers.