Abstract:
Solenostemon rotundifolius, commonly known as coleus/ Chinese potato/ hausa potato is
an under exploited minor tuber crop grown extensively in several parts of India. In Kerala it is
widely grown in districts of Palakkad, Thrissur and Malappuram. The coleus is usually grown in
raised beds by planting the cuttings after the onset of South West Monsoon. The growing period
of coleus in Kerala is from June to October. Manual harvesting involves digging out the tubers
using spades and forks which is found to be time consuming and tedious. A coleus digger attached
to a mini tractor was developed and its performance was tested in the instructional farm, KCAET,
Tavanur. The performance of the digger was tested for various parameters such as time of
operation, fuel consumption and harvesting capacity. The independent variables selected were
operating speed and depth of operation. Determination of percentage of damage of the coleus
tubers and the field efficiency were also carried out. The results were analysed statistically using
two way analysis of variance. It was inferred that different operating speed and depth of operation
had a significant effect on the time of operation of the digger. However, the fuel consumption and
harvesting capacity showed little effect on the selected variables. The percentage of damage of
coleus was negligible and the field efficiency was found to be 89 per cent. Cost analysis was also
carried out for the mini tractor operated coleus digger based on the total cost of materials and
labour requirements. There was a saving of 40 per cent in cost for the digger in comparison with
manual harvesting.
