Technical and economic evaluation of three dry bean harvesting methods in Markazi Province

Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is one of the legumes that has high consumption in the world that about 50% of it directly is consumed by humans. Currently, the harvest of this crop is done by hand with high labor cost and after harvesting, it leaves in the field. When the humidity of the seeds reached about 12% (on the wet basis) and the pods became dry, they are transferred to the threshing. In this research, harvesting methods of different red dry been were evaluated in terms of technical and economic terms in Markazi province (Khomein region). The treatments was included: the cutter bar equipped with pick up, rooting machine, conventional harvesting machine, and the manual method in the form of a randomized block design with three replications. The results of the research showed that the use of the cutter bar mechanism along with the pickup unit for harvesting of the dry bean crop did not suitable. There was a significant difference between the other experimental treatments in terms of field capacity, field efficiency and harvesting losses. In the rooting machine, the conventional harvesting machine and the manual method, the theoretical capacity was 0.63, 0.37 and 0.15 hectares per hour, effective field capacity was 0.56, 0.28 and 0.11 hectares per hour, field efficiency was 87.9, 76.59 and 76.01 percent and harvesting losses was 1.48, 3.35 and 7.07 percent respectively. Economically, the difference between the methods was not significant at the 5% level, and the benefit-cost ratio was 2.48, 2.61, and 2.26, respectively. According to these results, the use of a rooting machine was recommended in terms of technical and economic point of view.