Saffron Flower Lab Report

Evaluation and Determination of Tensile Force of Saffron Flower for Mechanical Harvesting

MansourehPourjafar

Higher Educational Complex of Saravan, Saravan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran.

E-Mail: [e-mail]

Abstract

According to the production of more than 90% of saffron in Iran, any study in order to progress in the field of mechanical harvesting and increase the quality of this product, seems to be logical and economical. Mechanical harvesting of saffron is needed to determine the required force for picking. Therefore, picking force of flowers was carried out in three different fields. In each field, the measurement was performed for 10 flowers by appropriate equipments. The results showed that the average force required

In this study, to determine the force required to separate the flower from the soil, three farms with age of 2, 4 and 6 years were considered and in every field and the separation force of 10 flowers were measured during the harvest season of Saffron flowers. In every field the force required to separate the flower was measured by appropriate tool. The results are inserted in Table 1. Many tests were done for determining the separation force of Saffron needle leaves from the soil. Measurment of this force was due to determine the difference between suction force of the needle leaves and flowers by suction devices. Suction devices must be designed based on these information to prevent damage to the leaves of Saffron plant [8].The useful life of a Saffron farm is approximately 6 to 7 years, and the diameter of the needle-shaped leaves of Saffron farms is distinct with different ages. Due to this, to determine the force of separation of needle-shaped leaves of Saffron, three farms with age of 2, and three farms with age of 6 years were considered and in every field and the separation force of 10 leaves were measured. The results are shown in Tables 2 and

The picking force of flowers and leaves was measured for determination of difference between the suction forces of the needle leaves and flowers for design a suction device to prevent damage to the leaves. Results showed that the average force of flower picking is approximately 0.8N.

Reference

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