Development and evaluation of a seed extractor for ash gourd and cucumber

Abstract

A seed extractor was developed for ash gourd and cucumber. The important part of the machine is the extraction tool whose diameter can be varied (52 -160 mm) according to the placental diameter of the fruit and it can be maintained at that diameter for the required time. The principle of operation is to penetrate the rotating tool with handle, into the placental region after adjusting its diameter which helps in scraping out the seeds along with the pulp from the centre and surrounding mesocarp portion. The experiment was conducted as a completely randomized design with three factors. Two blade shapes (round edged and pointed edged), three blade thicknesses (1, 2 and 3 mm) and four rotational speeds (50, 80, 120 and 160 rpm) were chosen. For each experiment, the number of replications were three. Before loading the vegetables to the holder for seed extraction the top and bottom ends which do not contain the seeds were cut and removed for easy penetration of the tool. By adjusting the blade diameter to required size, the rotating tool is lowered through the central portion of the vegetable and it scraps out the seeds from the surrounding mesocarp. The seeds are discharged into the chute. The seed extraction of ash gourd was achieved by a mean time of 10.6 s/kg and that of cucumber with 16.6 s/kg. The seed extraction efficiencies of both these vegetables were in the range of 99 to 100%. The germination rates were 95% for ash gourd seeds and 96% for cucumber seeds. The capacity of the extractor for ash gourd is 350 kg/h and that of cucumber is 219 kg/h. The average energy consumption at loaded condition for seed extraction of ash gourd is 0.105 kWh and for cucumber is 0.102 kWh. The cost of seed extraction per kilogram for ash gourd is ` 0.15/- and for cucumber is ` 0.24/-. The cost of seed production per kilogram for ash gourd is ` 10.3 /- and for cucumber is ` 3.0/-.