Animal Drawn Patela Harrow
It is secondary tillage equipment for clod crushing, stubble or trash collection, levelling and smoothening of land surface before seeding. It consists of a sal wood plank, trash collection hooks, cog wheel and lever for lifting. It is available in working width of 1.5 and 2.0 m. The frame carries a bar to which curved and pointed hooks are attached. The bar can be raised or lowered by means of the lever having a slotted sector to lock its position. It costs Rs. 6000/- and cost of operation is Rs. 560/ha. The field capacity of the equipment is 0.3 ha/h and labour requirement is 3-4 man-h/ha.
Power Tiller with Rotary Attachment
It is a single axle power unit to till the fields in dry condition and puddle the fields for rice crop. With other attachments, it can plough fields, make ridges and interculture in crops. It can renovate pastures, cut grasses, and level fields, dig potatoes, spray insecticides, pump water and haul up to 1.5 t load. This implement is commercially available in the country and costs about Rs. 1,50,000/-The cost of operation of rotary tiller is Rs. 1100/ha.
Tractor Mounted Pulverizing Roller Attachment to Tiller
Pulverizing roller is an attachment to commercially available cultivator. It pulverizes the soil and creates hardpan in the soil because of the impact of the blades on the soil. It consists of star wheels, central shaft, pulverizing members, mounting link and depth control tee. The pulverizing members are similar to lawn mower blades and are inserted in cast star wheels in such a way that it forms helical shape and progressively come in contact with soil. The roller is attached to the cultivator with the help of two mounting links. The savings in fuel and time with this machine are 20-35% and 20-30%, respectively. Additionally, it saves 20-30% water requirement for paddy fields due to better puddling. The cost of machine is Rs. 30,000/- and field capacity is 0.4 ha/h. There is a saving of Rs. 900/- per hectare in cost of operation over traditional method.
Tractor Mounted Rotary Tiller
Tractor operated rotary tiller (also called Rotavator) is suitable for preparing seedbed in a single operation both in dry and wetland conditions. It is also suitable for incorporating straw and green manuring. It consists of a steel frame, a rotary shaft on which blades are mounted, power transmission system and gearbox. The blades are of L-type, made from medium carbon steel or alloy steel, hardened and tempered to suitable hardness. The PTO of tractor drives the rotavator. The rotary motion of the PTO is transmitted to the shaft carrying the blades through gearbox and transmission system. Pulverizing of soil is more uniform and better because impact of revolving blades of rotavator shear the soil and make it fine. The use of a rotavator in paddy and wheat harvested fields saves fuel consumption of about 25-40% and 15-25%, respectively as compared to the conventional tillage implements. It saves about 40-60% of time and 20-30% of water during puddling. The cost of rotavator is Rs. 65,000 to 80,000 and its field capacity is 0.25 ha/h. There is a saving of Rs. 1000-1500/ha in cost of operation with rotary tiller as compared to traditional practice.
Tractor operated check basin former
A tractor operated check basin former has been developed at MPKV, Rahuri. The machine scrapes, collects and distributes the collected soil uniformly to form side bunds and cross bunds at regular interval of 6 m in a single pass. The size of check basin formed is 2 x 6 m. The effective field capacity of the machine is 0.15 ha/h and approx. cost of machine is Rs. 70,000/-. The cost of operation by the tractor operated check basin former is Rs. 3075/ha. It gives 96% saving in time and 32% in cost of operation as compared to conventional manual method.