Optimization of Parameters for Cutting and Conveying Mechanism of Sorghum Harvester

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S. Kankal, S. H. Thakare, A. V. Gajakos, A. K. Kamble, D. S. Karale, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7533023/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 12 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In any agricultural production system, harvesting and threshing are the two most labor-intensive operations. Sorghum is still mostly harvested manually in India, which is labor intensive and time consuming. It is a laborious and tedious task and existing machines are costly, so small and marginal farmers cannot afford it. In the view, present investigation have been undertaken to develop suitable sorghum harvester and optimize the it’s operational parameters. The optimized parameters were verified in the field on the developed harvester. The parameter optimization model of sorghum harvesting was established to obtain the optimal parameter combination where the cutting efficiency and conveying efficiency reach the maximum while the shattering losses reaches the minimum. The regression mathematical model of cutting efficiency, conveying efficiency and shattering losses was established and variance analysis was carried out. By analyzing the effect of interaction of various factors on responses by response surface methodology and performing multi-objective optimization on the regression model according to the importance of the optimization target, the optimal combination of the operating parameters of the cutting-conveying system of the developed sorghum harvester was obtained: The optimum parameters of sorghum harvester were found viz., forward speed 2.00 km/h, conveying speed 3.00 m/s and crop moisture content 25.88%. The performance trails of developed sorghum harvester were taken at optimized parameters. The average effective field capacity and field efficiency of the sorghum harvester was found to be 0.342 ha/h and 79.72% respectively. The average cutting efficiency, conveying efficiency and shattering losses of the sorghum harvester was found to be 98.34%, 96.72% and 0.41% respectively. The average fuel consumption of the sorghum harvester was found 4.70 𝑙/h and 13.35 𝑙/ha. The time required to accomplish one hectare sorghum harvesting with a tractor operated sorghum harvester was determined and found 2.92 hours. The average cost of operation of sorghum harvester was found Rs.750 per h and Rs.2200 per ha. The breakeven point and payback period of the developed tractor operated sorghum harvester was worked out as 216.25 ha per year and 397 h respectively. Physical sciences/Energy science and technology Physical sciences/Engineering Optimization Sorghum Harvester Mechanization Conveying speed Full Text Additional Declarations Competing interest reported. -- Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 24 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 22 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 09 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 09 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 02 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 28 Sep, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 28 Sep, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 15 Sep, 2025 Editor invited by journal 12 Sep, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 10 Sep, 2025 First submitted to journal 10 Sep, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7533023","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":513429875,"identity":"4d3b77b5-d910-405b-ae46-fc4236514cfa","order_by":0,"name":"U. S. 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Sorghum is still mostly harvested manually in India, which is labor intensive and time consuming. It is a laborious and tedious task and existing machines are costly, so small and marginal farmers cannot afford it. In the view, present investigation have been undertaken to develop suitable sorghum harvester and optimize the it’s operational parameters. The optimized parameters were verified in the field on the developed harvester. The parameter optimization model of sorghum harvesting was established to obtain the optimal parameter combination where the cutting efficiency and conveying efficiency reach the maximum while the shattering losses reaches the minimum. The regression mathematical model of cutting efficiency, conveying efficiency and shattering losses was established and variance analysis was carried out. By analyzing the effect of interaction of various factors on responses by response surface methodology and performing multi-objective optimization on the regression model according to the importance of the optimization target, the optimal combination of the operating parameters of the cutting-conveying system of the developed sorghum harvester was obtained: The optimum parameters of sorghum harvester were found viz., forward speed 2.00 km/h, conveying speed 3.00 m/s and crop moisture content 25.88%. The performance trails of developed sorghum harvester were taken at optimized parameters. The average effective field capacity and field efficiency of the sorghum harvester was found to be 0.342 ha/h and 79.72% respectively. The average cutting efficiency, conveying efficiency and shattering losses of the sorghum harvester was found to be 98.34%, 96.72% and 0.41% respectively. The average fuel consumption of the sorghum harvester was found 4.70 𝑙/h and 13.35 𝑙/ha. The time required to accomplish one hectare sorghum harvesting with a tractor operated sorghum harvester was determined and found 2.92 hours. The average cost of operation of sorghum harvester was found Rs.750 per h and Rs.2200 per ha. The breakeven point and payback period of the developed tractor operated sorghum harvester was worked out as 216.25 ha per year and 397 h respectively.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Optimization of Parameters for Cutting and Conveying Mechanism of Sorghum Harvester","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-09-12 20:34:36","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7533023/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2025-10-24T12:29:35+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-10-22T06:58:33+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-10-09T11:20:46+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"173702191120339245152670171357392299070","date":"2025-10-09T05:18:00+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-10-02T15:57:08+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"19420097184534133303548678830448400060","date":"2025-10-01T09:34:39+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"75803249489068173307960564778092593521","date":"2025-09-28T14:22:50+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-09-28T13:32:11+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-09-15T06:46:11+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2025-09-12T11:59:41+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-09-10T11:32:45+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2025-09-10T11:28:46+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"f67706b7-2f19-4952-b339-48688534974b","owner":[],"postedDate":"September 12th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":54614322,"name":"Physical sciences/Energy science and technology"},{"id":54614323,"name":"Physical sciences/Engineering"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-02-28T15:39:11+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-09-12 20:34:36","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7533023","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7533023","identity":"rs-7533023","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}