Development of integrated tractor front mounted onion harvester with inbuilt leaf de-topping unit

India is the second largest onion producer. Typically, both the harvesting and the post-harvest leaf cutting of onions is done by conventional manual method, which are a time-consuming, expensive and drudgeries activities. A project was initiated to develop an integrated tractor front-mounted onion harvester with inbuilt leaf de-topping unit. Based on discussion with stakeholders and review of literature, few concepts were ideated and prototype of most appropriate concept was developed. The machine was found performing satisfactory in field. The field capacity of the harvester was observed 0.39 ha/h with field efficiency of 82.97%. On weight basis, the percentage of damaged bulbs, buried bulbs and harvesting efficiency were found as 3.30%, 0.33% and 96.37%, respectively. The mechanised harvesting can reduce time required per hectare and cost involved (Rs/ha) by 97.9% and 84.48% respectively as compared to manual operation. Additionally, the speed of operation made the significant impact on efficiency of leaf de-topping caused a significant decreased in de-topping efficiency from 96% to 83% while increasing the tractor forward speed from 1.5 to 2.5 km/h, representing a reduction of approximately 13%.