(EN) Karnataka is placed first in the production of silk in India. It produces an average of around 8200 metric tonnes of silk every year; which is about 1/3rd of the total silk production in India. Sericulture is a labour-intensive rural industry; currently it is facing a shortage of labour force. Harvesting and pruning of aggregate fruit plants are the most important activities involved. According to a survey, 80% of the seri culturists found harvesting and pruning to be most dreary and burdensome. The main reasons are the amount of fatigue involved in the process; health problems associated with it. Hence, mechanization of harvesting and pruning activities results in reduced labour effort and time requirement. The existing harvesting and pruning apparatus are limited to ground level pruning of aggregate fruit shrubs. The plant when pruned to ground level, takes three weeks to sprout. While, the ‘height malleable aggregate fruit shrubs pruning apparatus’ is designed specifically for different levels of pruning. This results in early sprouting of the plant within a week. Hence a prospective system is designed with simpler and low cost. The prospective design involves a height malleable mechanism fitted to a chassis frame which is powered by a 52cc two stroke petrol engine. The mechanism involves a hollow shaft fitted to a solid key shaft driven by the engine, which allows the vertical movement of the blade arm. The blade arm consists of two carbon coated cutter blades which is actuated by chain and sprockets powered by the engine shaft. Two blades are utilized for the circumference cutting of the aggregate fruit shrubs. It takes 6-8 days for the manual pruning of 1 acre of aggregate fruit plantation. While with the prospective design, it takes around 8-10 hours for the same. This saves a lot of human effort and maximizes the yield. As a conclusion, mechanization of the pruning activity with the prospective design saves labour effort and is economical in all ways.
