Semi-mechanized Harvesting of the Safflower Petals in Comparison with Conventional Method

IntroductionSafflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is an oil plant with a growth cycle of 120 days. The seeds of this crop are primarily used for oil production, while its flower petals are used for extracting natural pigments and medicinal purposes. The cultivation area for this crop in Iran was about 2300 ha during 2014-2015. Due to the recent droughts, cultivation of this crop has a good income for farmers because of the short growth period, resistance to drought (water stress) and less maintenance requirements. In the meantime, the flower petals of this crop are used for food coloring and medical affairs. The flower petals are harvested with the traditional method in most parts of Iran, which has a lot of hardship for harvesting and increases production costs. On the other hand, this crop is contaminated in terms of sanitary factors due to the contact of the worker hands with flower petals. Therefore, applying a proper mechanization method for petals harvesting is an effective step in the development of this crop cultivation.Materials and MethodsIn this study, three petal harvesting methods including the manual (conventional) method, Knapsack (Indian modified) method and Fossil-fueled wheelbarrow machine method were compared in terms of effective field capacity, downfall loss percentage, purity percentage, energy consumption, and harvesting costs. The Indian knapsack machine was modified. The experimental design format was a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications‏. In the knapsack method (modified), petals were separated from the receptacle by a cutting blade and sucked into the machine reservoir. In the manual method, petals were separated from the reception by the worker hands and put inside the special bags which hanged on the worker neck. In the fossil-fueled wheelbarrow machine, an 8 kW motor-powered engine was used to set up the 1200 w vacuum system and cutting unit. The vacuum system was installed on the special chassis in wheel barrow machine. Each experimental plot had about 149 safflowers in one square meter area, which was harvested in different methods.Results and DiscussionThe results showed that the harvesting loss (W.W.) of the Knapsack method, Fossil-fueled wheelbarrow machine method, and manual method were 0.63%, 1.11%, and 3.25%, respectively. The percentages of purity were 97.71%, 98.66%, and 95.29%, respectively. There was a significant difference between machine and manual methods in 5% level. The effective field capacity of the methods was 2.45, 2.76, and 1.39 g min-1 (in dry condition), which was not significantly different between the machinery treatments in 5% level. The energy consumption for the fossil-fueled wheelbarrow machine was significant compared to the other two methods (1356 kW h-1 in 30 days). In terms of the economic point, benefit-cost ratios were 1.75, 1.55, and 1.16 for the Knapsack method, Fossil-fueled wheelbarrow machine method, and manual method, respectively. If the solar panel was used in the Knapsack method, the benefit-cost ratio would decrease to 1.54.ConclusionsThe field capacity of machines methods was more than manual method for safflower petal harvesting. The Knapsack machine had less loss percentage than other treatments. The wheelbarrow machine had a higher degree of purity, but no significant difference was observed between this treatment and the Knapsack method. The energy consumption of the wheelbarrow machine was higher than other treatments. The economic evaluation showed that the Knapsack machine had a higher benefit-cost ratio than other treatments. If the solar panel was used by this machine, the use of a solar panel system would be economical too. Finally, with regards to the technical and economic parameters, using the Knapsack machine was recommended for safflower petal harvesting.