Research Article Agri Res & Tech: Open Access J Volume 19 Issue 2 - December 2018 Copyright © All rights are reserved by Modather Mairghany DOI: 10.19080/ARTOAJ.2018.19.556085 Quality of Performance and Grain Losses of Two Type of Rice Combine Harvesters Modather Mairghany1*, Azmi Yahya1, Nor Maria Adam2, Ahmad Suhaizi Mat Su3 and Suha Elsoragaby1 1Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia 2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia 3Department of Agricultural Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia Submission: December 03, 2018, Published: December 17, 2018 *Corresponding author: Modather Mairghany, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia, (18-18) A Skyvillas Serdang Perdana Street No SP 3/5 43300 Seri Kembangan Selangor, Malaysia. Abstract Harvesting quality of the conventional and mid-size combines was evaluated on the basis of the grain quality collected in the clean grain Qualitytank of theof threshed combine, mass the grainhas been loss expressed in the field through after harvesting the percentage and the and extent weight of contentdamages of of a runninghealthy (whole)the combines grain, onbroken the field or damaged plot. Harvesting kernels, foreignoperation materials, was conducted and empty on farmers’grain. The field collected lots with thresh a total grains area from of 30.104 the mid-combine ha for conventional harvester combine showed and 0.49% 16.95 more ha for mean the wholemid-size and combine. healthy grain content (96.47 vs 87.32%) and 69.63% lesser mean broken grain (0.72 vs 2.37%) and 89.96% lesser mean foreign materials in the outlet mixture of grain (2.18 vs 4.05%) and 46.23% lesser mean empty grain of rice (0.63 vs 6.28%). In terms of grain losses, the result found that the mid-size combine harvester showed 67.3% lesser mean total grain loss (17.10 vs 52.29 g/m2), 74.67% lesser mean cleaning grain losses (9.08 versus 16.13g/m2), 50.8% lesser mean unthreshed grains loss (7.94 vs. 16.15g/m2) than the conventional combine harvester. Keywords: Wetland Rice Cultivation; Rice Combine; Grain Quality; Harvesting Losses; Food Security; Qualitative and Quantitative Losses Introduction capacities [7]. Food losses have a direct and negative impact on Food security is the basis for our way of life, rice is a major food the income of both farmers and consumers. Food and Agriculture crop for the people of the world in general and Asians in particular; Organization of U.N. predicts that about 1.3 billion tons of food nearly 90% of the world’s rice is produced and consumed in this are globally wasted or lost per year [8]. Reduction in these region. Furthermore, rice is a staple food for nearly 2.4 billion losses would increase the amount of food available for human people in Asia, rice provides two-thirds of the calories for most consumption and enhance global food security [8]. Asians with rice-based diets. Current world population is 7.6 billion [1] and expected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050 [2], this increase translates into 28.02% more human mouths to feed, with the greatest demand growth in the poor communities of the world. According to [3], food supplies would need to increase by 60% (estimated at 2005 food production levels) in order to meet the food demand in 2050 increasing productivity and reductions of contribute to ensuring a reasonable diet for a growing population losses the cereals in general and rice in special could significantly over the next 50 years [4]. Thus, reduction of harvesting and post- harvest food losses is a critical component of ensuring future global food security [5]. Volumes of food losses and food waste arising globally each year Figure 1-4 [6]. Food losses refer to a decrease in food quantity or quality in the early stages of the food supply chain, reducing the amount of food suitable for human Figure 1: World rice area harvested, production and losses from consumption. The concept of food losses is thereby often related 1962 to 2013 [6]. to harvesting activities with the lacking system or infrastructural Agri Res & Tech: Open Access J 19(2): ARTOAJ.MS.ID.556085 (2018) 0054 Agricultural Research & Technology: Open Access Journal Reducing food losses offers an important way of increasing food availability without requiring additional production resources, and in less developed countries it can contribute to rural development and poverty reduction by improving agribusiness livelihoods. Reducing harvesting losses may effectively and sustainably increase the volume and quality of available food. Rice is one of the main substances in the world people’s diets and considers as a strategic crop. Moreover, the consumption is increasing due to a sharp population, noticeable losses of agricultural crops, and improvements in nutrition qualitatively and quantitatively. Therefore, any kind of effort to increase production through waste and loss reduction is important [9]. Harvesting is the most important activity to sustain the productivity and quality of rice. Nowadays, combine harvesters have been playing an Figure 2: World wheat area harvested, production and losses increasingly important role in modern agricultural production in from 1962 to 2013 [6]. recent years, they are being employed massively and continuously in harvesting rice in the world. The performance of combine harvester should work in trend to reduced grain losses in order to produce the highest quality and quantity of rice. Grain losses during harvest represent a direct reductions could have toward sustainably contributing to global loss of income for the farmer. Given the significant role food loss food security, it is important to have reliable measures of these losses [10]. In some countries, it is perceived that the reasonable small grain loss should reach a maximum of 3% of the total crop yield [11]. It is very important to determine total losses qualitative and quantitative and the quality of harvested mass in the rice harvest combines, not only in terms of economic calculation and determination of total yield and the effects of the harvester but also for global food security concern because any small grain losses could affect the world population feeding [12]. The post- Figure 3: Malaysia rice area harvested and rice production from 1983 to 2013 [6]. harvest system should perform with minimum loss, maximum efficiencyLiterature and review maximum return for all involved. There have been many studies and researches about performance of harvester machines such as [13], who determined the patterns for grain for barely passing through the concave and separating grates of an axial-flow combine, and the grain damaged by threshing and separating, [14] studied the threshing efficiency and power consumption for two threshing units; axial flow grain, broken grain, damaged grain, skinned grain, and power threshing and tangential flow threshing. In this study, unthreshed consumption were investigated, To know the exact status of grain breakage and other losses for basmati rice cultivar, a tangential cylinder for threshing basmati rice Axial Flow Cylinder The axial flow threshing cylinder was compared with fully axial flow thresher cylinder, Tangential Axial Flow, [15] studied the effects of Figure 4: Malaysia production rice imported rice quantity and losses from 2003 to 2013 [6]. breakage, [16] found in their study that the grain moisture content operating factors of an axial flow rice combine harvester on grain and the rotor speed affect the amount of grain breakage, [17] To sustainably achieve the goals of food security, food compared the threshing mechanism of combine harvesters affects availability needs to be increased through reductions in the damage on the Winter wheat and spring barley grains including post-harvest process at the farm, retail and consumer levels [5]. tangential and axial threshing mechanisms. It was found, that How to cite this article: Modather M, Azmi Y, Nor M A, Ahmad S M S, Suha E. Quality of Performance and Grain Losses of Two Type of Rice Combine 0055 Harvesters. Agri Res& Tech: Open Access J. 2018; 19(2): 556085. DOI: 10.19080/ARTOAJ.2018.19.556085. Agricultural Research & Technology: Open Access Journal the axial threshing system of grain harvesters damaged the grain 1165 combine harvester equipped with variable pulley and belt mechanism has tested. mechanism. [18] studied the behavior of grain separation in a Thai significantly lower in comparison with the tangential threshing The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of two types of combine harvesters, conventional combine, and factors of Thai axial rice combine harvesters pertaining to thresh transverse axial flow threshing unit, [19] studied about operating mid-size combine harvesters in terms of reducing grain losses, unit losses concerning, [20] conducted a study on a transverse increasing grain quality and reducing qualitative losses in wet axial rice thresher and found that the rotor speeds, feed rates, paddy cultivation in Malaysia. and guide vane inclinations all affected threshing unit losses, and that rotor speed affects grain breakage, the feed rates and guide Materials and Methods vane inclinations did not cause any grain breakage, [21] observed The study was conducted for quality evaluation of crop – in their study about the transverse axial thresher for rice- that harvesting and grain losses