Development of an automatic planting system for Baker's garlic in a sandy field: Physical and mechanical properties of Baker's garlic seed bulbs
2004
Chen, H. (Tottori Univ. (Japan)) | Iwasaki, M. | Takeda, H. | Karahashi, M. | Dohi, M.
In order to develop a suitable mechanized planting system for Baker's garlic, a series of experiments was conducted to determine the physical and mechanical properties of Baker's garlic seed bulbs. The seed bulbs were processed to a length of 70 mm with 10 mm long roots. We studied the bulbs with respect to geometric characteristics, such as the maximum major and minor seed bulb diameters, the center of mass, the roundness ratio at maximum cross section, sphericity, curvature and tapers for single seed bulb. Also studied were the number and frequency distribution of the seed bulbs per cluster and the maximum major and minor diameters for a cluster of the seed bulbs after harvest by a digger. Moisture content (wet basis) increased linearly at the rate of 0.7 % Per day when seed bulbs were soaked in water and decreased linearly at the rate of 0.6 % when exposed to air at 30-33 deg C ambient temperature for 12 days after harvest, A test rig was used for the measurement of ultimate cohesive strength properties. The experimental results indicated no significant effect on geometrical characteristics, but the ultimate tensile and shearing strengths decreased exponentially from 4.90 =+- 1.02 and 2.45 =+- 0.45 to 2.29 =+- 0.36 and 1.15 =+- O.18 MPa respectively as moisture content increased from 66.0 to 79.4 % w.b.
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