Design, development and evaluation of twig shredder for waste management and resource utilization in apple orchards

An apple twig shredder was developed to manage waste and produce substrate for shiitake mushroom cultivation, mulch, and media for clonal propagation of apple root stocks. The machine was evaluated for power requirement, throughput capacity, shredding efficiency, and size of shredded material. The shredder was standardized at 2880 rpm rotational speed and 15-25 mm twig diameter for which power requirement, throughput capacity, shredding efficiency and size of shredded material was obtained as 1.06 kW, 28.24 kgh­-1, 82.50 % and 0.735 mm respectively. Operational cost of machine was estimated as 70.38 INRh-1 and shredding as 2.5 INRh-1.