Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Chipping Bucket–A New and Feasible Approach for Fragmentation of Oil Palm Trunk


Affiliations
1 ICAR-Directorate of Cashew Research, Puttur 574 202, India
2 ICAR-Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research, Pedavegi 534 450, India
3 ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Trichy 620 102, India
4 ICAR-Central Institute for Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal 462 038, India
 

The disposal of oil palm trunk (OPT) congregated from old and senile plantations has been pointed out as one of the major constraints during land clearing process with respect to cost and drudgery involved. Traditionally, the existing practice followed by farmers includes excavation using crawler type excavator (JCB), followed by dragging and dumping in the peripherals of the plantation. Realizing the nutrient status of OPT, their disposal difficulties and to devoid other environmental issues, a chipping bucket attachment was fabricated for the same model excavator to enhance easy fragmentation and rapid in situ decomposition of the congregated OPT. The chipping bucket method effectively minimized the cost of land clearance by 24% compared to the existing practice followed by farmers. To estimate the cost of clearance per unit palm, an equation was derived using palm height and chipping time. The equation obtained was validated for significant R2 value (0.923). The equation thus derived would help farmers as well as excavator operators in estimating land clearance cost for the standing oil palm plantations. This machine effectively reduced the trunk disposal cost from 1.54 to 1 time compared to the existing land clearance method.

Keywords

Oil Palm Trunk, Chipping Bucket, Cost Effective, Fragmentation, Land Clearance.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Abdullah, N. and Sulaiman, F., The oil palm wastes in Malaysia. In Biomass Now – Sustainable Growth and Use (ed Matovic, M. D.), IntechOpen, Malaysia, 2003, pp. 75–100; http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/55302.

  • Basiron, Y. and Weng, C. K., The oil palm and its sustainability. J. Oil Palm Res., 2004, 16, 1–10.

  • Chan, K. W., Watson, I. and Lim, K. C., Use of oil palm waste material for increased production. Planter, 1981, 57(658), 14–37.

  • Kee, K. K., Nutrient reserves and recycling from oil palm trunks at replanting. Changes, 2004, 32(5.4), 27–28.

  • Sulaiman, F., Abdullah, N., Gerhauser, H. and Shariff, A., An outlook of Malaysian energy, oil palm industry and its utilization of wastes as useful resources. Biomass Bioenergy, 2011, 35, 3775– 3786; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2011.06.018.

  • Lim, K. C. and Zaharah, A. R., Decomposition and N&K release by oil palm empty fruit bunches applied under mature palms. J. Oil Palm Res., 2000, 12, 55–62.

  • Shuit, S. H., Tan, K. T., Lee, K. T. and Kamaruddin, A. H., Oil palm biomass as a sustainable energy source: a Malaysian case study. Energy, 2009, 34, 1225–1235; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy. 2009.05.008.

  • Haron, K., Zakaria, Z. Z. and Anderson, J. M., Nutrient cycling in an oil palm plantation: the effects of residue management practices during replanting on dry matter and nutrient uptake of young palms. J. Oil Palm Res., 2000, 29(2), 29–37.

  • Ooi, L. H. and Heriansyah, H., Palm pulverisation in sustainable oil palm replanting. Plant Prod. Sci., 2005, 8, 345–348; https://doi.org/10.1626/pps.8.345.


Abstract Views: 308

PDF Views: 107




  • Chipping Bucket–A New and Feasible Approach for Fragmentation of Oil Palm Trunk

Abstract Views: 308  |  PDF Views: 107

Authors

P. Preethi
ICAR-Directorate of Cashew Research, Puttur 574 202, India
T. V. Singh
ICAR-Directorate of Cashew Research, Puttur 574 202, India
M. V. Prasad
ICAR-Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research, Pedavegi 534 450, India
D. Ramajayam
ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Trichy 620 102, India
N. V. Ganesh
ICAR-Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research, Pedavegi 534 450, India
R. K. Mathur
ICAR-Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research, Pedavegi 534 450, India
A. P. Pandirwar
ICAR-Central Institute for Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal 462 038, India

Abstract


The disposal of oil palm trunk (OPT) congregated from old and senile plantations has been pointed out as one of the major constraints during land clearing process with respect to cost and drudgery involved. Traditionally, the existing practice followed by farmers includes excavation using crawler type excavator (JCB), followed by dragging and dumping in the peripherals of the plantation. Realizing the nutrient status of OPT, their disposal difficulties and to devoid other environmental issues, a chipping bucket attachment was fabricated for the same model excavator to enhance easy fragmentation and rapid in situ decomposition of the congregated OPT. The chipping bucket method effectively minimized the cost of land clearance by 24% compared to the existing practice followed by farmers. To estimate the cost of clearance per unit palm, an equation was derived using palm height and chipping time. The equation obtained was validated for significant R2 value (0.923). The equation thus derived would help farmers as well as excavator operators in estimating land clearance cost for the standing oil palm plantations. This machine effectively reduced the trunk disposal cost from 1.54 to 1 time compared to the existing land clearance method.

Keywords


Oil Palm Trunk, Chipping Bucket, Cost Effective, Fragmentation, Land Clearance.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv116%2Fi6%2F1003-1008