A crop thresher is an essential farm machinery that separates grain seeds from their stalks and husks. It plays a vital role in agriculture by significantly reducing the labor-intensive task of threshing by hand and postharvest loss. However, Nigerian soybean farmers face challenges with threshing the crop after harvest, particularly due to the toughness of the stalks. Many existing threshers tend to clog or cause high grain loss during operation, leading to significant waste, low efficiency, and high energy consumption. The study modified an existing soybean thresher prone to clogging during operation and evaluated its performance. Modifications were made to the hopper and cylinder drum. The modified machine was evaluated using the TGX 1448-2E soybean variety as the test crop. The results were analyzed statistically at a 95% confidence interval. The machine was subjected to three treatment variables – concave clearance (10,13 and 16 mm), feed rate (3, 4, and 5 kg/min), and cylinder speed (500, 600,700, and 800 rpm). The optimal performance of the modified thresher was achieved with a concave clearance of 13 mm, a feed rate of 5 kg/min, and a cylinder speed of 700 rpm. A two-sample t-test was performed to compare the threshing and cleaning efficiency of the two machines. Improvement in threshing and cleaning efficiency was achieved by 11.06 and 19.02% respectively. No record of clogging was observed on the modified thresher within the studied conditions.
Key words: Soybeans, Thresher, Modification, clogging.
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