RESUMO
The aim of the present study was to design, develop and evaluate hand operated and power driven crackers for walnuts. Kaghazi (thin shelled) and medium shelled walnuts after subjecting to pre-optimized soaking conditions were cracked by developed crackers. Different parameters were evaluated to check the performance of the power operated cracker and hand operated cracker in comparison to manual cracking. 100% shelling coefficient and cracking coefficient value of 1 were recorded in manual and hand operated cracking methods in both Kaghazi and medium shelled walnuts. The coefficient of wholeness was recorded highest in hand operated cracking method in both Kaghazi and medium shelled walnuts. The throughput capacity and effective throughput capacity was highest and labour requirement was least in power operated walnut cracking method followed by manual cracking and hand operated cracking methods in both Kaghazi and medium shelled walnuts. In both Kaghazi and medium shelled walnuts, the butter ball + kernel halve recovery and cracking efficiency was recorded maximum in hand operated cracking method. The economic analysis reveals that both hand operated and power operated crackers can be useful for small to medium scale walnut growers and processing industries.