Self-propelled Rice Transplanter
It is suitable for transplanting paddy seedlings in puddled soils. It is a single wheel driven, riding type machine and fitted with diesel engine. It transplants seedlings from mat type nursery in eight rows in a single pass. The drive wheel receives power from the engine through V-belt, cone clutch and gearbox. A propeller shaft from the gearbox provides power to the transplanting mechanism mounted over the float. The float facilitates the transplanter to slide over the puddled surface. The tray containing mat type nursery for 8 rows is moved sideways by a scroll shaft mechanism, which converts rotary motion received from the engine through belt-pulley, gear and universal joint shaft into linear motion of a rod connected to the seedling tray having provision to reverse the direction of movement of tray after it reaches the extreme position at one end. Fixed fork with knock out lever type planting fingers (cranking type) are moved by a four bar linkage to give the designed locus to the tip of the planting finger. The cost of the equipment is approximately Rs. 2.25 lakh. It can transplant 1.2-1.5 ha/day with the help of 5 persons by working at a speed of 1.1-1.5 km/h. The cost of operation with the transplanter is Rs. 3,000/ha as compared to Rs. 5000/ha by traditional method. It saves about 65% labour and 40% cost of operation as compared to manual transplanting. Four row self-propelled walking type and six/eight row four wheels driven riding type self-propelled transplanter are also commercially available.
Tractor Operated Zero-Till Seed-Cum-Fertilizer Drill
It has been developed to sow wheat directly in rice harvested fields without preparing the seedbed. It is a 9/11/13-row unit consisting of fluted rollers for seed metering and agitators over adjustable openings for fertilizer metering. It is operated by 26 kW tractor and consists of tubular steel section frame, seed and fertilizer boxes, fluted roller metering mechanism for seeds, two depth control wheels for controlling the sowing depth, inverted ‘T’ type furrow openers made of medium carbon steel with high speed steel tip in the front for opening narrow slits in untilled soil, ground drive wheel having lugs on its circumference and acts as a power source to drive the metering mechanism of the drill and power transmission system. The zero-till drill is operated in the field when the soil moisture is about 24-27% and the stubble height of previous harvested crop is not more than 150-200 mm. The field capacity of the machine is 0.3-0.4 ha/h with about 75% efficiency. Use of zero-till drill for direct sowing of wheat after rice was found to be advantageous in terms of 50-60% saving in time and 40-50% saving in cost of sowing as compared to the conventional practice of seedbed preparation and sowing with seed-cum-fertilizer drill. The cost of machine is Rs45,000/-. The machine saves about Rs. 1000-1500/ha.
Tractor Mounted Raised Bed Planter
A bed-former-cum-seeder has been developed at PAU, Ludhiana for sowing wheat. The bed planter consists of a frame, planting hoppers, fertilizer box, furrow openers, bed shaper and power transmitting wheel. The frame is made of mild steel sections. The furrow openers are ridger type and have mould board and share point. The wing span of the mould board can be adjusted. The share is made of medium carbon steel or alloy steel, hardened and tempered to suitable hardness. The machine makes two beds. It can sow two or three rows of wheat on each bed. It has seed metering unit of vertical disc type. The draft requirement of the machine is reduced due to roller type bed shaper. A planting attachment has also been made with the machine for sowing maize, groundnut, cotton etc on the beds. The field capacity of machine is 0.26 ha/h. The approximate cost of equipment is Rs. 50,000/-. The cost of operation is about Rs. 4500/ha as compared to Rs. 3400/ha in conventional method. It saves about 20-30% water and 20% seeds.
Tractor Operated Inclined Plate Planter
Tractor operated 6-row inclined plate planter is a multi-crop planter for planting of bold and small seeds and developed at CIAE, Bhopal and PAU, Ludhiana. The planter consists of a frame with tool bar, modular seed boxes, furrow openers and ground drive wheel system. It has six modular design seed boxes with independent inclined plate type seed metering mechanism. Seed plates for sowing different seeds can be selected and changed easily. The plate thickness, number and size of cells on seed plate vary according to seed size and desired plant-to-plant spacing. For operation, the seed is filled in the hopper, seeds are picked up by the cells of inclined plate and delivered in the opening connected to furrow opener through seed tubes. Shoe type furrow openers ensure deep seed placement in moist zone for sowing under dryland condition. Modular seed box-furrow opener units are adjustable for sowing seeds at different row-to-row spacing. The plant to plant spacing can be varied by changing the transmission ratio. The drive to seed metering mechanism is transmitted from ground drive wheel through chain and sprockets. It can be adopted for sowing intercrop on broad beds. The field capacity of the equipment is 0.42 ha/h with an effective width of coverage of 1.85 m. The approximate cost of the equipment is Rs. 40,000/-. The cost of operation is Rs. 2300/ha as compared to Rs. 3500/ha by conventional method.
Tractor Operated Small Seed Planter
A tractor (26.11 kW) operated six row planter has been designed and developed at PAU, Ludhiana for planting small seeds like onion. It consists of inclined plate type metering mechanism, seed hopper for each row, shovel type furrow openers and three point hitch system. The capacity of the seed hopper is about 1.5 kg and metering plate of 130 mm diameter is made of plastic. The power to the metering mechanism is provided from the lugged ground wheel. The row to row spacing of the machine is 150 mm whereas plant to plant spacing can be changed either by changing the plate with different number of notches or by changing the sprockets. The effective field capacity and cost of operation of the machine are 0.16 ha/h and Rs. 5090/ha, respectively at forward speed of 2.0 km/h for onion seeding.The sowing is done on beds having top width of 1.0 m to suit vegetable digger for digging the crop. There is saving of about 50% in cost of operation and 81% in labour requirement as compared to traditional method of onion sowing.