Performance evaluation of a local maize sheller

Manual shelling of maize is a time-consuming and tedious operation. The few existing mechanized shellers on Nigerian farms are imported and out of reach of the rural peasant farmers that are characterized by small holdings and low income. The power requirement of such shellers is high and hence, the prime mover is very expensive. The work reported here is on the performance evaluation of a locally fabricated maize sheller. Cob breakup, shelling efficiency, kernel damage and separation loss were measured for three varieties of local maize (Zea mays) over three harvest dates. Harvest date was found to have significant effects on most of the variables studied because of the variations in moisture contents. The kernel damage and cob breakup decreased significantly with later harvest date. The shelling efficiency was not significantly affected by changes in the harvest date for 'Nsukka Super' and 'Nsukka Local' maize varieties but the effects on the 'Agbuda Special' maize variety were more variable. The shelling capacity was not significantly influenced by harvest date or maize variety. Generally, the performance of the maize sheller was not influenced by maize the variety; therefore, the maize sheller can comfortably be used to shell local maize varieties. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. on behalf of Silsoe Research Institute.