This paper describes the development of a self-propelled cotton stripper harvester ideally suited to small scale cotton farming as prevalent in countries like India, Pakistan, China and cotton producing countries of Africa. A riding type power tillerwas fitted with combs, reel, auger, a separating unit to detach seed-cotton from burrs, a pre-cleaner and a storage unit and tested in cotton variety Suraj at spacing of 80 x 10 cm and cotton hybrid RCH-2 at a spacing of 60 x 60 cm. The harvester is specially designed for narrow row cotton cultivation as in high density planting systems (HDPS) where spindle type harvester cannot operate. Because of its smaller size, and relatively simpler operations it is suitable for harvesting small-sized cotton farms. Compared to spindle type pickers it has less maintenance and fewer wearable parts for replacement.
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