Design and Testing of Tractor-Mounted Peanut Digger for Five-Row Peanut Cultivation

The five-row peanut planting system is increasingly being adopted in Thailand because of its potential to enhance yields compared to traditional single- or double-row systems. However, the harvesting process for five-row cultivation of peanuts is challenging, particularly in terms of labor intensity. This study presents the design and testing of a tractor-mounted peanut digger developed for five-row peanut plantations. The prototype was designed using the Finite Element Method (FEM) to simulate the structural strength of both the digging blades and main frame. Two types of digging blades, Blade Model 1 and Blade Model 2, were analyzed. The results indicated that Blade Model 2 exhibited lower stress levels and a higher safety factor than Blade Model 1. Consequently, Blade Model 2 was selected for the prototype fabrication and field testing. The prototype is designed to be mounted on a four-wheel tractor with a 95-horsepower engine. The important components of the digger were the main frame, digging legs, digging blades, and soil and weed cutting discs. Field performance testing involved dividing the planting rows into three sections and counting the number of dug peanut plants within a 1.69 m² square frame to evaluate digging efficiency. The results indicated that the prototype achieved a digging efficiency of 90.7% and an effective field capacity of 5.44 hector per day.