Engineering properties of sorghum bioguma-variety for designing appropriate thresher and chopper machine

Abstract

Sorghum is a versatile plant with various parts that can be utilized. However, information on the physical and mechanical properties of the sorghum plant is crucial for designing agricultural machinery for primary handling processes such as threshing and chopping. This study aimed to determine the technical characteristics of sorghum plants (Bioguma variety) including the physical and mechanical properties of the stems, leaves, panicles and seeds to design a configuration system concept for threshing and chopping machines capable of processing sorghum plants with high moisture content immediately after harvesting. The study used a descriptive method and included samples of sorghum plants randomly taken from fields in Majalengka and Bogor, Indonesia. The physical and mechanical properties were measured using several replications, ranging from 3 to 30 depending on the parameter. The sorghum plants were harvested at at ages 80, 90 and 108 days after transplanting (DAT). It was found that the moisture content of sorghum stem and seeds decreased with the increase of plant ages where stem ranged between 84.18–79.81 %wb and seeds ranged between 51.7–29.4 %wb. The result revealed that planting ages influenced its properties including stem properties and seed properties. Longer DAT increased the stem hardness from 290.64 ± 29.41 to 350.00 ± 0.81 N and seed hardness from 8.2 ± 1.7 to 44.9 ± 5.4 N but decreased the tensile force of seed form panicles from 16.7 + 3.2 to 6.0 ± 0.8 N. The data on stem strength and seed hardness provide important considerations for the development of several equipment for sorghum processing. The findings of this study can serve as a basis for designing effective and efficient threshing and chopping machines for sorghum plants at high moisture content.