Design and Development of Harvesting Mechanism for Henna Lowsonia inermis L

Abstract

Henna (Lawsonia inermis L), popularly known as mehndi has medicinal, cosmetic and industrial applications. Pali district of state of Rajasthan is the major grower region of henna in India. Henna cultivation involves series of unit operations from its propagation to its harvesting. Harvesting of henna is one of key unit operation in henna cultivation. Due to the unpredictable weather conditions when henna crop achieves its maturity, henna harvesting must be carried out within very short window of time period. The scarcity of labour and heavy labour charges impose additional burden on the henna cultivators. Manual henna harvesting is considered as a very laborious task creates drudgery and MSD s among the workers. Therefore, need of mechanized henna harvesting in order increase work efficiency and reduce burden on henna harvesting workers was identified. The attempt to design and develop henna harvesting mechanism was made in order to mitigate the identified issues. The manual harvesting workers were exposed to the ergonomic evaluation in order to identify the risk of musculoskeletal disorders using Standard Nordic Questionnaire. Apart from this, the physiological (i.e. heart rate) and physical (i.e. ODR (Overall Discomfort Rating and BPDS (Body Part Discomfort Score) was also evaluated. Further, the determination of the cutting power needed to cut the henna stem with various types of circular saw blades in order to identify the optimal cutting unit on the henna harvester was done. Contd..... newline