Assessment of Physical and Engineering Properties of Ginger Rhizomes for Efficient Harvester Design

Abstract

Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) is an important spice crop widely cultivated in India, and knowledge of its physical and engineering properties is essential for developing efficient ginger harvesting machinery. This study was conducted to determine key physical, biometric and engineering properties of ginger relevant to harvester design. The physical characteristics evaluated included the number of leaves per plant, plant height, rhizome depth, plant population density, plant spacing, soil-rhizome composite weight, rhizome weight, number of rhizome fingers per hill and rhizome weight with plant. The average values obtained were 19 leaves per plant, 24.5 cm plant height, 19 cm rhizome depth, 11 plants m⁻² population density, 13.5 cm plant spacing, 1.02 kg soil-rhizome composite weight, 10.5 rhizome fingers per hill and 1.45 kg rhizome weight with plant. The engineering properties assessed included major, minor and intermediate diameters, geometric mean diameter, sphericity, rhizome index, bulk density and angle of repose. The mean major, minor and intermediate diameters were 9.90, 5.17 and 3.72 cm, respectively. The geometric mean diameter was 5.66 cm, whereas sphericity and rhizome index were 0.58 and 51.73, respectively. Bulk density and angle of repose were 443.98 kg m⁻³ and 34.33°, respectively. The results provide engineering data for the development and optimisation of ginger harvesting machinery, particularly digging, lifting and soil-separation mechanisms.