Scope and Importance of Straw management Machinery

In Agriculture, Haryana is the most advanced state which has highest intensity of farm mechanization after Punjab. Haryana is the third largest producer of wheat with a total production of 10.1 million tonnes which is 13.27% of total wheat production of India and ranks first in productivity with an average of 42.32 q/ha. About 50% area of wheat is harvested by combines.

Combine harvesting results in saving of time and labour but results in loss of straw (bhusa). This causes wastage of around 5 million tonnes of straw worth Rs. 1000 crores annually in Haryana alone.

The conventional Combine harvesters leaves considerable amount of long straw and stubbles in the field.

Farmers usually burn them in-situ to avoid field operational problems for next crop. It has been estimated that one ton of straw on burning release 3 kg particulate matter, 60 kg CO, 1460 kg CO2, 199 kg ash and 2 kg SO2.

The burning of left over straw not only leads to environmental pollution but also causes a considerable economic loss of precious biomass widely used as a cattle feed. This problem can be solved either by incorporation of straw into the soil for decomposition or straw retrieval for use as a cattle feed. The retrieval of straw from combine harvested rice-wheat fields is done either by straw reaper or straw baler.

Straw thrown and stubble left by the grain combine is collected by straw combine and delivered to the cylinder concave section, where it is cut into pieces and passed through the concave. A reciprocating cutter bar is used for reaping the standing stubbles and the portion of the straw left uncut by the combine harvester.

A straw reaper essentially consists of four main units viz., stubble cutting and collecting unit, feeding unit, straw bruising unit and “BHUSA” blowing unit. Serrated saw type cylinder is mostly used in the straw combines for bruising. Serrated knives are attached on the bars at specific spacing and the bars arranged parallel to drum axis. Straw combine is pulled by tractor (45 hp) with an attached trolley. As soon as this trolley is filled with straw, it is unloaded near the dumping site normally located centrally or in the corner of the field.

It is operated by tractor PTO

has cutter bar reel, feeding auger and bruising cylinder like a traditional thresher. Straw, which passes through the concave, is aspirated by a blower and fed into a trolley on rear side covered by a wire net. For recovering the left grains from the straw, a sieve system is provided below the concave.

The wheat Straw gets crushed

in very small pieces in the threshing unit. The product fine straw is sucked by the blowers and is then pushed towards the outlet pipe by blower and which is collected in the Trailer fitted with wire mesh. The tires fixed on the reel pipes push the straw of wheat crop left after combine operation towards the oscillating cutter bar after which the harvest straw reaches the threshing drum after passing Auger and guide drum.